Saint Vincent Gristmill

Saint Vincent gristmill was built in December 1854 and proved vital to the daily operations of the Saint Vincent Archabbey. It was planned by Archabbot Boniface Wimmer and designed by George Washington Bollinger. The gristmill is located on the other side of Beatty Country Road from the Saint Vincent Archabbey and is built onto a field. It is a wooden structure with a smokestack on one side of the building and a distinctive tunnel running through the structure of the other end of the building. The monks that worked here grounded grain from the fields, so it was able to be made into bread. Today, the gristmill includes a gift shop where a variety of products are sold and a museum that allows visitors to see the history and operation of the structure. The gristmill represents both a Saint Vincent monks’ lifestyle and the larger agricultural economy and livelihood of the region.

The Saint Vincent Archabbey was established in the year 1846. This archabbey would become the first Benedictine monastery in the United States. The story of the Saint Vincent Gristmill begins four years after the establishment of the Saint Vincent Archabbey. The founder, Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, had intended for his monastic community to be fully self-sufficient. Monks of the archabbey had started farming their land soon after the establishment of the archabbey. Wimmer had soon realized that the monastery would need a gristmill at the monastery. This would allow the monks to grind their grain into flour without having to go to a gristmill a few miles away.

The construction of the gristmill started when two sets of buhrstones were purchased. These buhrstones were large pieces of flint that were used to grind the grain. After a couple of years, construction of the gristmill would end in December 1854. The cost was approximately $3,000.00. Soon after the structure was completed, a one-story sawmill would be added to the building. A tragedy had occurred during these early years of the gristmill. This was on January 24, 1862, when Brother Majolus had died when he was caught in a belt. In 1883 the gristmill had another addition to its structure. This was space for additional grain storage. The gristmill was powered by a coal furnace as it was the most efficient method for power. This would be replaced by a Fischer engine in 1877.

The early part of the 20^th century history for the gristmill was full of problems for the Saint Vincent Archabbey. On December 3, 1932, the coal mine under the structure collapsed. The gristmill started to sink because of the collapse and the machinery was thrown out of alignment. Furthermore, large cracks in the walls of the structure began to appear. The mine collapse had also caused the gristmill to slide down the hill it was built on. In 1934 the monks of the archabbey had installed a tin roof to the gristmill. Later in 1948, the building's siding had been covered by “Insulbrick”. This covering would cause the gristmill’s exterior to deteriorate over the next decades. The machinery of the gristmill started to become powered by electricity. With this change to electricity, operation of the gristmill had been reduced. On January 28, 1963, the Saint Vincent Bakery was destroyed in the great fire at Saint Vincent. The great fire at Saint Vincent was a large fire in the year 1963 that damaged and destroyed many buildings of the archabbey. Saint Vincent’s bakery was in the area affected by the fire. The bakery was the main user of the gristmill’s flour. Without the bakery, the gristmill started to be used less and lost much of its production capabilities. The manager of the Saint Vincent farm took more control of the gristmill during this time. Brother Joseph Weigl, the last full-time miller, died on November 23, 1976. This was the end of the great millers at the Saint Vincent gristmill.

Despite the problems the gristmill faced, there were many attempts to try and preserve the structure. The gristmill would be added to the National Register of Historic Places by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission on January 18, 1978. This was done to try and get Federal aid to fund the preservation of the gristmill. The Gristmill Study Committee was created on June 27, 1988. This committee’s purpose was to try to preserve the gristmill because of the important heritage it has to the Saint Vincent Archabbey. After it was founded, the committee tried to get funding and insurance for the preservation of the gristmill. It was a struggle however as the other buildings that were tied to the gristmill were too far into a state of disrepair for insurers to want to provide insurance for. Those buildings were torn down to allow for the gristmill to get its funding and insurance. However, the committee on May 23, 1994, recommended for the gristmill to be shut down and torn down. Father Paul Taylor wrote an eleven-page monograph to Archabbot Douglas on the potential plans for the restoration of the gristmill. The gristmill would be saved by grants from Richard M. Scaife of the Allegheny Foundation and Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation. With these grants, the renovation and preservation of the Saint Vincent Gristmill was able to be completed.

The structure of the gristmill was very intricate and unique. Its design was created by the millwright George Washington Bollinger. For the construction of the gristmill, Bollinger had the beams and planks of the structure marked with roman numerals at the ends. These would allow the lay brothers of the monastery to know where each of the beams of the structure should go. The gristmill was constructed entirely with wood. This wood would be from the American Chestnut tree from the nearby Chestnut Ridge. Around the same time of the construction of the gristmill; the American Chestnut tree would be decimated by a blight. The foundation of the gristmill would made out sandstone. The original structure was three stories and had a basement. It also had a gabled roof. The gristmill was 35 feet wide and 45 feet long. Each of the floors had two support beams measuring 10” x 10” x 45’. A single-story sawmill was added to the west side of the gristmill. The sawmill was 51 feet wide and 40 feet long. This sawmill was eventually given a second and third floor. In addition, the sawmill had two oak supports measuring 13” x 19” x 15’. A second addition to the east was later added. This addition was 35 feet wide and 40 feet long. The design of the gristmill was made to be more faithful to Bavarian architectural style. This style was from where the monks were from. The monks were more familiar to this design.

Today the Saint Vincent Gristmill represents both the hard-working traditions of the Benedictine monks and the agricultural economy and culture of western Pennsylvania. The members of the Saint Vincent monastic community are expected to spend their time as directed to them by their Rule. They frequently sold the bread they made from the flour they had grounded in the gristmill to the local population. Visitors today can observe the monks grinding flour. They can also view exhibits about the mill and Saint Vincent’s agricultural history. Visitors can also buy goods such as Saint Vincent bread mix, pancake mix and a history book on the history of the Saint Vincent Archabbey gristmill and brewery. 

History, Saint Vincent Gristmill. Accessed November 21st, 2022. https://saintvincentgristmill.com/history/.

Kline, Omer Urban. The Saint Vincent Archabbey Gristmill and Brewery. Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Saint Vincent Archabbey, 2000.

Opatka-Metzgar, Kimberley A.. Gerhart, Laura. Saint Vincent Past to Present: A Visual Journey. Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Saint Vincent Archabbey, 2008.

Raven, Vern. What is a Gristmill, Mansfield Texas. July 15th, 2015. Accessed November 21st, 2022. https://www.mansfieldtexas.gov/1371/What-is-a-Gristmill.

Jeffcoat, Derris. National Register of Historic Places Inventory. January 25th, 1977. Accessed November 21st, 2022. https://gis.penndot.gov/CRGISAttachments/SiteResource/H001137_01H.pdf.