W308 S4484 and W308 S4473 State Highway 83

Summary

Genesee Woolen Mill Site
W308 S4484 and W308 S4473 State Highway 83, Town of Genesee, Waukesha County
Builder: Moses McFarlane (mill building)
Significant dates: circa 1848; 1877; 1898

The Genesee Woolen Mill Site is located east of STH 83 and south of Genesee Creek, south of the Village of Genesee Depot, in the Town of Genesee in the scenic Kettle Moraine region of rural Waukesha County.

Early mill operations were begun by Benjamin Jenkins circa 1848-1849. Shortly after, Lyman Holt and Daniel T. Hickox purchased the water rights. Following a short period of several different owners, the mill property was purchased in 1868 by James Proctor, who built the two-story, circa-1870s, Italianate-style residence on the property. In 1898, a fire destroyed the mill, which Proctor rebuilt that same year. Operations continued until Proctor’s death in 1914. Shortly after, the machinery was sold. The mill was torn down in 1929.

The Genesee Woolen Mill site retains many structural features including the mill ruins, waterworks associated with operating the mill (dam, millpond, mill race and tail race) and a one-story limestone building (circa 1898) where wool fibers were carded and cleaned, then twisted and pulled into yarn for weaving at the mill. Stone foundation walls of a former summer kitchen and a privy are near the Proctor house, and a small depression of a former house/cabin is near the highway. Surface scatters of historic artifacts (including a large turbine water-wheel used for power at the woolen mill) and the roadbed of an original driveway from the road to the house and mill are found on the parcel.

Archaeological investigation of the mill ruins, structural features and surface scatters has the potential to yield important information relating to the construction of the textile mill and other buildings at the site, type of machinery used to operate the mill, and the various domestic and industrial artifacts used by textile mill owners and mill hands during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

The Genesee Woolen Mill site is located on private property. Please respect the rights and privacy of the owners.

Property Details

Resources Within The Property

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