{"nrhp_refnum":"90001738","name":"Geiger Mill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of Mill Rd. and PA 82, Robeson Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Geigertown","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.19981365500007,"lon":-75.83709464462845,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Engineering","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Geiger Mill complex is a stone gristmill with stucco finish in the village of Geigertown, southern Robeson Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, situated about 200 feet north of Route 82 along Cold Run Creek. The complex also includes a stone house, a stone smokehouse, and the watercourses that once powered the mill.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the mill is important for its association with the county gristmill industry and as a representative example of a mill that was part of a working family farm. It is described as an architecturally significant eighteenth-century mill complex whose multi-level plan and window placement show how machinery and operations were arranged. The house's Federal-period woodwork is cited as evidence of the family's relative prosperity.","narrative":"Built in the 1780s beside Cold Run Creek in Geigertown, Berks County, the Geiger Mill is a stone gristmill finished in stucco, part of a complex that includes a stone house, a smokehouse, and the pond and races that once carried water to the mill. The mill was built by Paul Geiger, and a county history of 1886 credits him with its construction in 1781. It rises on several floor levels, and its window placement and stone corner fireplaces reflect that arrangement, which helps show how eighteenth-century mills organized their machinery. Although most equipment is gone, the early hurst frame, the millstone cut-outs, and a wrought iron elevator drive remain. The Geiger family operated the mill for nearly a century, and it continued grinding grain until about 1919. The property is regarded as one of the six definite eighteenth-century survivors among the 104 mills surveyed in Berks County.","period_of_significance":"1781 - c. 1919","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular","criteria":["A","C","D"],"status_note":"The mill ceased operating shortly after World War I; most equipment has been removed and the watercourses no longer hold water.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.357093-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/90001738.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001738/1aff58369f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001738/1aff58369f-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geiger_Mill_Berksco.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geiger_Mill_Berksco.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992410","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5530111"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/geiger-mill-90001738/"}