On this site in 1876, Joseph K. Groff built Groff's Mill, a steam-powered grist mill on Negley's Run. In 1877, when Joseph joined his brother, John K. Groff, in the meat business at a butcher shop at 13 North Market Street, he sold the mill to Jacob G. Stauffer. Jacob made improvements and enlarged the mill to include four sets, or runs, of stones. He ran the mill continuously, grinding wheat into flour and corn into meal, then selling it to many distant locations. Stauffers Mill was able to produce 50 barrels (about 10,000 pounds) of flour each day.
In 1898, Stauffer sold the mill to his son-in-law, John F. Binkley. John, who had a lifetime of experience in the milling business when he came to Elizabethtown, ran the mill until his death in 1916. Upon John's death, Stauffer returned to the mill and operated it until his grandson, Jacob V. Binkley, was able to take over the mill.
Jacob V. Binkley was born in Elizabethtown in1899 and graduated from Elizabethtown High School in 1917. In 1918, at the age of nineteen, Jacob began to operate Binkley's Mill. In his time the mill produced Silver Cloud Flour, Blue Ribbon Corn Meal, and a variety of poultry feeds, along with custom milling for local farmers.
The millstones on this site today are believed to be from Binkley's Mill. These stones were recovered when Bainbridge
Street was built in 2011.
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