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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 21, 2005 From flour to flowers By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The Ashland flour mill was more than just a business to the area's earliest pioneers. No trace of the mill is visible in lower Litha Park today. Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings The building represented food, shelter and a link to their past lives to the weary pioneers who faced hardship and uncertainty in a new land. Built in 1854 at the entrance to what is now Lithia Park, the Ashland Mills was torn down in 1909 to make way for the town's signature park. Judge C.B. Watson delivered a eulogy and history on "the old mill" to assembled townspeople two weeks after debris from the demolished building was set alight in a bonfire. "It was the nucleus around which clustered the little granite city that has grown in beauty and importance to the Ashland of today," Watson said, according to newspaper accounts. "Built in the wilderness on the banks of a beautiful stream, in the edge of a virgin forest that was filled with savage animals and more savage men, it, next to the pioneer's log castle was the most sacred spot. While its wheels and burrs slowly turned they knew they should not suffer from hunger." The flour mill, constructed by A.D. Helman and Ebel Emery for $15,000, was one of the first buildings in Ashland. Pioneer E. K. Anderson, who settled near Talent in 1852, journeyed to the Willamette Valley and brought back seeds. His wheat was the first ground at the mill. The pioneers celebrated the event with a ball. In 1855, townspeople sought shelter in the building during a conflict with American Indians. The mill produced 2,480,000 pounds of flour in 1888 and chopped 350,000 pounds of barley, according to newspaper accounts. Falling into disrepair By the early 1900s, the flour mill was no longer operating and residents began to think of other options for the site at the heart of town. A 1920 article recalled the condition of the mill that had once been so vital. "The land was occupied by storehouses and the main mill, which stood right where the entrance to the park now is. It was an old frame structure, of the homely old-fashioned type, white, barren and barn-like. ... The barns and yards back of the mill were very unsightly and unsanitary. In 1902 the council began to wake up to the fact that it was no longer needed in the city square, and as it was not running, the city bought the mill and ground," the article reported. By 1920, nothing remained as a clue to the site's former use. "Think what a wonderful transformation this has been, from a string of hideous old barns and warehouses to the present beauty spot of which Ashland may well be proud," the article continued. Even back in 1909, when Watson was lamenting the recent destruction of the mill, he lauded plans for the "beautiful park, almost in the center of a city that is destined to be one of the most beautiful resort cities in the world." Yet as Watson looked out over the assembled crowd listening to his address and noted the missing faces, he said, "The pioneers are passing, one by one, and so, too, are the material structures of their handiwork. Buildings and institutions which were a necessity to the pioneer in the early, troublous times, and in the construction, use and contemplation of which they took much pride, are now, in these more rapidly progressing days, made to give way to the wants and necessities of a new spirit that has added lightning and wings to more ambitious flight." DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc libor rate Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress afsa studentloans home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms fasa student loans Matchmaking & Dating Scripts African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation wholesale diamonds Currancy Exchange web conferencing Online Casinos Community Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams