Down by the old mill

FARMINGTON — Tom Owens, owner of the old Rock Grist Mill in Farmington, said people stop by his property all the time to take a stroll down memory lane.

Saturday, June 18, they came to reminisce and watch as the Daughters of Utah Pioneers dedicated a plaque on the site at 700 N. Rock Mill in Farmington.

"This place is a very fond spot for many, many people in Utah," Owens said.

Zelda Tidwell of Farmington has fond memories of dances and dinners at the site with friends from work.

"This one couple, Bob and Kay Christensen, one night came to pick me and my date, Neal Giles, up," Tidwell said. "We rode in the back of a pickup on lawn chairs. I had a formal dress and high heels on. It was really fun."

Annette Tidwell, Zelda's daughter and executive director of the Farmington Historical Museum, remembers working in a gift shop on the property. She said the shops sold European crystal, cookies, candies and pumpernickel bread baked at the mill.

"It was always a place we came to for a really special, pricey dinner," Tidwell said about a restaurant that was on the site.

Owens has spent the past 12 years stabilizing and restoring the old Rock Grist Mill building after it was badly vandalized.

"Throughout the whole Salt Lake and Ogden valleys, it was known as a place to go to tear things up and destroy things there," Owens said.

The Daughters of Utah Pioneers originally put a plaque on the site in 1965, but vandals took it in the early 1990s. The new plaque will eventually be placed on a rock pillar so people can read and see it from their cars.

"The Daughters of Utah Pioneers not only go around putting plaques on buildings and historical sites, they're keepers of the past," Owens said. "They keep our heritage alive."

Owens said the mill is the most significant LDS historic building in private hands anywhere. He said it is by far the most important building in Davis County history.

"What a pleasure to sit here and look up at the Rock Mill," said Glen Leonard, LDS Church historian. "The Daughters of Utah Pioneers have cared about it, marked it, taught and talked about it."

The three-story rock building was designed and built from 1857-60 by Frederik Kesler.

"When the pioneers first came to the Salt Lake Valley to establish the communities, their primary needs were someplace to live and something to eat," Leonard said.