The Decline

            The mills in Montgomery county owe their demise to the rise of wheat growing in the Midwest, and the railroads that brought that wheat to Washington and Baltimore.  The millers in Washington and Baltimore found better production and lower prices in Kansas wheat, and the farmers’ market for wheat gradually declined.[44]

             Kemp Mill, which was doing so well in 1880, had been shut down by 1918, and did not last much longer. 

“Kemp’s mill, one of the landmarks of Montgomery County, situated a short distance west of Colesville, was destroyed by fire last Saturday evening, entailing a loss of about $2500, partially covered by insurance.  The origin of the fire is not definitely known, but a number of boys were seen playing about the building shortly before the fire broke out.  The mill…had not been in operation for a year or more.”[45]

            An account from a local resident tells of a mill that relocated and turned to steam power.  “Hoyles’ Mill was located on little Seneca creek.  It is on Hoyles Mill road off Route 108.  Mr. Dorsey states that he took grain there as a boy.  The road was almost impassible.  Hoyle abandoned the site and built a new mill in Boyds beside the railroad track, powered by steam.”[46]  According tot he same man, Watkins Mill also burned down after the turn of the century and was never rebuilt.

            In the beginning of the 20^th century, suburbia began to take a foothold on Montgomery County, and the land along trolly lines was rapidly bought up for the purposes of real estate development.  The new Montgomery Countians had no wheat to grind, no cows to feed.  As the county became more urban, there was simply no need for mills. 

            It is not known when the last Montgomery County watermill shut down, but it is assumed to be before World War II.  In 1968 there was a single local flour mill operating, which was the Liberty Milling Company in Germantown.  Originally steam powered, it was replaced by an electric mill after a fire in 1914.  Outliving its water-powered counterparts, it finally burned down in 1971, the last local flour milling operation in Montgomery County.[47]  Today, all that is left is the road names to remind us of over 40 mills that once flourished in Montgomery County.  Some of more permanent structures made of brick or stone have survived, and are either privately owned or have become museums dedicated to the lost industry.