Watkins Mill
- Ellen Kardell
- Apr 3
- 2 min read
Watkins Mill, located in Lawson, MO, is a wool and gristmill from the Civil War era. It serves as the focal point of Watkins Mill State Park, which covers approximately 100 acres and offers trails, fishing, camping, as well as the mill and the original plantation house.
For fiber artists and weavers in particular, this is an amazing place to visit—and a friend and I were treated to a private tour of the entire mill including the attic which is usually off limits due to ladder-like access stairs.
The old cast iron machinery is sculpture to me so I'm going to focus my images on that, with less about the how/where/whys of the mill. But a tiny bit of background: the 3-story building was constructed of handmade brick from the site. The building's looms, carders, spinning frames and other equipment were entirely powered by a massive steam engine that sits to one side of the building. You can see the leather belts running through all the floors connected to gears that ran the machinery.
Forty to sixty thousand pounds of wool was processed each year — picked, washed, dyed, carded, spun and woven into blankets, shawls, textile yardage and battings.
This is the only fiber mill of this era in the US that has its original equipment intact. Most were sold for scrap during the war(s), but given its remote location, the massive cast iron pieces remained in situ for decades until it was donated in the late 1950's and developed into a state park in 1964. It is listed as a National Mechanical Engineering Historic Landmark.
Fiber people—ya gotta go. Ya just gotta go.
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