Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Industry & Commerce

Location

28 Millis Ln, Stanfordville, NY 12581, USA

Lat/Long

41.877023, -73.692492

Grant Recipient

Stanford Historical Society

Built sometime prior to 1887, Haight’s mills, owned by James B. Haight (1841-1901), consisted of a sawmill and series of mill buildings used to produce flour, feed, and cider. The mills served local area farmers and thrived until 1897, when a large fire consumed a significant portion of the mill property. A May 8, 1897 edition of the Millbrook Round Table newspaper describes the destruction of the mill in great detail:

At 11 o’clock Tuesday night the family of James B. Haight were awakened bright light, which proved to be their entire mill property in flames, the village was soon aroused, but in less than an hour the building fell, it seemed to be on fire from one end to the other all at once, and nothing could be saved, nor could any effort avail to save any part of the building, there was great danger to all adjoining buildings, but fortunately no wind was blowing, and it had been raining hard most of the evening. So all the roads were wet and nothing else caught fire though the tree and fence of Mr. Haight’s are badly blackened, if not scorched.

The article continues:

This is the second fire within two months in our little village. Have we a fire bug in our midst? There was no insurance on the building and in it was stored about 5 tons of corn belonging to Boyce, some choice fowls, and grain and grass seed.

Shortly after the mill property burned, James B. Haight passed away in 1901. While Haight’s mills no longer stand, as of 2021, the foundations of the old buildings were still visible.