| {rokbox thumb=|images/stories/news/090606rollermill_th.jpg|}images/stories/news/090606rollermill.jpg{/rokbox} |
| click for larger image |
May 30, 2003 -The Gazette-Virginian
SAFEKEEPING – The old Halifax Roller Mill is getting a new tin roof in one section and building maintenance along some of its walls. Halifax businessman Bill Abbott hopes to secure the building for future adaptive reuse. The mill is located at the southern entrance to the Town of Halifax. Suggested reuse solutions have included a restaurant, gift shops, offices, meeting rooms and artist spaces as historic preservationists seek to save the structure.
The historic Halifax Roller Mill is being “stabilized” by new owners Bill and Darnell Abbott.
“It has a huge leak in the roof,” said Halifax businessman Abbott, whose farm supply business is nearby.
The Abbotts bought the old mill earlier this year and are currently having a new tin roof put on a large section of the 1915-era structure.
“We’re putting the roof back and cleaning it up inside,” Abbott said yesterday. “We’re just trying to save it” In the future, Abbott said he would like to see the mill “become something beneficial to the Town of Halifax.” “We’re open to suggestions,” he added.
Halifax Town Manager Carl Espy agrees.
History, in this case, can be on the town’s side, according to the town manager. “Buildings that were once focal points in other communities but fell into disrepair have turned out to be tremendous assets for the economic futures of their communities,” said Espy. “There were a lot of positive ideas generated from the public (about the mill) at the adaptive reuse meeting in October of 2004,” added the town manager. Espy, too, is eager to see new life for the mill, a focal point at the southern gateway to town’s revitalization project.
Mill History
“The mill, formerly known as Banister Mills, operated from 1915 to 1996 processing grains and distributing flour and other products to the region,” according to a report prepared by Hill Studio for the town and county.
Robert Hupp is credited with constructing the mill for R. Holt Easley around 1915. The mill, which did not begin operations until just prior to World War I, consisted of “five-stand roller mills with each stand holding four steel grinders,” according to the architectural history. “Out of 300 pounds of wheat, the farmer got a 196 pound barrel of flour and 50 pounds of feed,” according to the prepared history. “The mill got 54 pounds as a toll.”
In 1936, Carl Payne bought the mill.
“In its heyday (the 1950s and 1960s) I can remember trucks with wheat lining up all the way to Halifax to Cleve Wilborn’s station,” Charles Payne, Carl Payne’s grandson, recalled in the Hill study.
The Paynes continued to operate the mill until the mid-to-late 1960s.
The Abbotts purchased the property from the Reese family. The Reeses sold fresh vegetables at the site prior to expanding their operation to other sites.