Slater’s Lumber Yard

The area surrounding Slater’s Lumber Yard was once referred to as the Upper Mill Site. From 1832 to 1901 this stretch of Grindstone Creek was lined with a cloth and carpet factory, an iron foundry, flour mills and sawmills. Slater’s Mill, the last of all mills once powered by Grindstone Creek, was built by John Forstner in 1875. It was owned and operated by the Slaters from 1901 to 1939. In 1926, employees of Slater’s Mill worked a ten hour day for twenty cents an hour, six days a week. Located on the west bank of Grindstone Creek where the Grindstone Mill Condominiums are now located, the buildings were destroyed by fire in the 1980s.