Borneman Mill
Also known as: Stauffer Mill
Why it's listed
Borneman Mill sits on a dairy farm in the limestone valley near Bally, in Washington Township, Berks County. It is a two-story frame mill with post-and-beam framing, vertical board siding and a stone foundation, built after 1860 and believed to have been put up by Andrew Stauffer, who bought the farm about 1860. The mill was powered by water from a dam fed by two streams. A cable drive, with pulleys roughly 300 feet apart, carried power from the water wheel to the threshing floor of the stone bank barn. Inside, gears, shafts and belts drove millstones, a cob breaker, an edge grinding stone and other machines. The farmhouse, barn and smokehouse are included because they operated together with the mill. The complex is significant as a rare survivor of a small farm mill, one of several once found along Route 100, and as an example of harnessing water power at the scale of a single farm. The water power system is no longer intact, and the dam was lost in a storm in the 1930s.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the mill is a rare surviving example of a "farm mill" that used water power to run milling, threshing and other farm machinery for a single farm. It is described as the only known farm mill remaining in situ in the county. Its cable drive linking the mill to the barn is cited as a notable power system.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 90001612, listed November 8, 1990. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Off PA 100 SW of Clayton, Washington Township, Bally |
|---|---|
| County | Berks County |
| Listed | November 8, 1990 |
| Reference number | 90001612 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | c.1810 1939 |
| Architectural style | Vernacular |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Engineering, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The exterior is in fair condition and the interior is in fair condition; the water power system is no longer intact. |
| Acreage | 1.5 |
| Coordinates | 40.41564, -75.57738 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 90001612.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q15203565
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.