GLENPARK MILL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23516, 2 June 1938, Page 6

GLENPARK MILL

OLD-TIME LANDMARK BUILDING DEMOLISHED The Glenpark flourmill, one of the earliest mills in Otago, erected in the seventies, has ceased to exist. It was a stone structure, built before the advent of the modern roller system, a mute reminder of those days being one of the mill stones found under the building during its demolition Constructed originally to grist the wheat grown • in the district, and driven by water power, the mill .in 1885 passed, into the hands of an investment company, which reconditioned the dam and race to provide a permanent supply of water. This •work still stands as a tribute to the foresight of those connected with the venture and the excellence of the workmanship of those early days. The business had, a more or less chequered career in the hands of various owners, and the Rev. John Riley was at one time interested in the mill. In 1922 it became the property of the late .Mr Richard Jamieson, a well-known Dunedin citizen, and shortly afterwards it was remodelled completely on modern lines. In the capable hands of Mr Jamieson, and with the assistance of his sons, the business flourished. In later years, however, several factors adversely affected, the industry, a decrease of wheatgrowing in the Palmerston district and the cost of transport to the available markets, being the chief of these. On the death of Mr Jamieson his trustees saw little prospect of an improvement in the future, and they decided to cease operations and sell the flSvSets. So ends the career of yet another of the pioneer industries of Otago. The output from the mill will be distributed among other mills, the machinery and buildings will be removed, and soon little will be left to remind the older generation of its existence. But the water still flows through the race, and the turbine remains to provide private power for Mr Johnstone, the miller of late years, who happily remains on the property and intends to make his home there.