I chose this topic for History 406 term paper because of a personal interest in local history, and a desire to learn more about the agricultural, geographical, and mollinographical history of Montgomery County. (Mollinography is the study of old mills)
I was raised in a subdivision called Kemp Mill Estates, with a close proximity to Kemp Mill road. In the 15 years I lived there, I had always wondered who the Kemps were, where their mill was, and what happened to it (and them). I found my answers in 1999 during an accidental visit to the Montgomery County Historical Society Library, in Rockville. The mill was located near the intersection of Kemp Mill Road and Old Randolph Road, and was owned and operated by George Kemp, and his family. The Kemps are buried in a Catholic graveyard off Georgia Avenue, and their mill was burned to the ground in 1919, a suspected arson.
The information I found at the Historical Society Library that day only accelerated my interest in Montgomery County’s history. The rise and fall of the mills whose names I see all over the county as streets (Viers Mill, Muncaster Mill, Dufiefs Mill, etc.) presented a great example of how technology had changed, as well as a challenge of finding out specifically why. The mechanics involved in milling were also a topic that piqued my interest.
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