Hudson Grist Mill
Also known as: Crotsley Mill
Why it's listed
Built in 1850 in the middle of Saltillo Borough, a small rural town in southern Huntingdon County surrounded by steep mountains, the Hudson Grist Mill is a frame building with clapboard siding on a coursed rubble stone foundation. It measures 36 by 28 feet, rises two and a half stories, and carries a centrally placed gable-roofed fourth story housing the elevator head beneath a metal roof. The site traces back to 1797, when Henry Hubbell, the pioneer landowner, built grist and saw mills on North Spring Creek powered by a log dam and an overshot wheel. Ownership passed through the Hudson family, then to the Weavers, who installed modern milling equipment in 1905, and to Crotsley, who added a steel water wheel and a kerosene engine around 1920. The mill is regarded as significant for industry in Huntingdon County. Its remaining equipment, including a cockle machine, illustrates a long-running milling operation at an early site.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the mill is significant under Criterion A for industry as an example of an important industry in Huntingdon County. It is presented as a good example of a late nineteenth to early twentieth century mill site and an example of the continuing use of an early milling site, with an unusual twentieth-century water wheel.
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 90000390, listed March 20, 1990. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | PA 829, Saltillo |
|---|---|
| County | Huntingdon County |
| Listed | March 20, 1990 |
| Reference number | 90000390 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1850-1939 |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Much of the milling equipment was removed in the early 1950s; the water wheel remains in badly deteriorated condition. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Coordinates | 40.21363, -78.00731 (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 90000390.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5928680
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.