Wilkens-Rogers Company-Ellicott's Mills Historic District - Ellicott City MD - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM

The Elliott’s Mills Historic District (Baltimore County) is located on the east bank of the Patapsco River, opposite Ellicott City (Howard County). The Ellicott’s Mills district relates to the industrial operations the Ellicott family operated here from the 1770's through the mid-nineteenth century. The district consists of historic archaeological sites, an 18th century building, a section of an 18th century mill incorporated in a 20th century factory, a 19th century tavern, 19th century workers housing and an 1860 villa, united by the major east-west route in Maryland during the early 19th century, the old National Pike (old Fells Road).

The significance of the Ellicott’s Mills Historic District is derived from its history as the center of the industrial operations begun by the Ellicott family in the 18th century and as the site of continuous industry from that time to the present. The district offers a broad range of opportunities for interpreting the history and industrial development of the Ellicott family.

The Ellicott brothers, founders of the Patapsco Flour Mills in the 1770's, were among the first men in America to practice merchant milling on a large scale, that is, they carried on milling not as a barter transaction and service to their immediate neighbors, but as a capitalistic venture wherein they paid cash for wheat and shipped flour in large quantities to points overseas as well as to their nearest city market. The mills were built on a remarkably large scale for their time, equipped at first with the largest machinery for milling as practiced in the colonial period, they were added onto with a number of Ellicott improvements.

The mill was much larger than the celebrated mill of George Washington near present Fort Belvoir. The Ellicott’s were among the first merchant millers in the country to adopt the Oliver Evans (1755-1819) patented system of mill automation (1789), and they appreciated the cost-effectiveness "of the Evans system of mechanical conduits for speeding the flow of grain and flour through the plant, untouched by human power from wheat storage bin to the packed flour barrel.

Wilkens-Rogers Company, 27 Frederick Road

The mammoth multi-story Wilkins-Rogers Company flour plant exists at the southern end of the district on a site where grain products have been produced since the Revolution. Constructed of concrete, brick and glass, the present plant is located on the site of the 1792 Ellicott Flour Mill, the first merchant flour mill in the United States. The historic precedents have fallen victim to the changing demands of the market, but remarkably a section of the 1770's flour mill is located in the power house at the southern end of the complex.

Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): Ellicott's Mills Historic District Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link] Address: 27 Frederick Road, Ellicott City, MD 21042 How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Narrative found on the internet (Link provided below) Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link] NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): Not listed

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