The early history of Kern’s grist mill parallels that of Kern’s saw mill.
Originally, the grist mill had been adjacent to the saw mill on Trout Creek, but when the saw mill was moved temporarily to Factory Street in lower Slatington, the grist mill moved to basically where the Kern house stands today on Main Street.
In 1850 Jonas Mill, the great-grandson of Nicholas Kern, the original settler in the area, tore down the old mill, and erected a new mill on the south side of Main Street. This was a large stone structure, three-stories with attic, two-feet-thick slate walls, a size of about 50 ft. x 50 ft. Originally, there were two grinding stones, one for wheat and one for grinding grain into feed stock for animals. The mill ran with two turbine wheels that were powered with water from Kern’s dam via a mill race. The mill was capable of producing about fifty bushels per day.
Note that at that time in 1850, the only persons living in lower Slatington were Jonas Kern, John Kern (his father), Henry Kuntz and Robert McDowell.
Jonas operated the mill until his death in 1861. Through his estate, the mill and property transferred to his daughter Violetta (1832-1863), the wife of Henry Kuntz.
In, or around, 1881 (There is some discrepancy about this date), the land, grist mill and saw mill were sold to Alfred J. Kern (1847-1933). By lineage, he was the son of Charles, who was the son of Christopher, who was the son of William, who was the son of Nicholas Kern, the original settler of the area. Alfred had rented and worked the mill since 1874.
View of the old barn adjacent to Kern's grist mill. This was built on the mill grounds in 1904. Source: American Memory Collection
In 1903, Alfred Kern built his house on Main Street across from the current mill, on the site where the original mill had once stood.
By the 1930s, the mill was mostly just grinding grain for animal feed. In August 1931, Alfred sold the saw and grist mills and about 15 acres of land around Kern's dam to his son, Howard Elias Kern (1875-1971). Howard was married to Annie S. Kern (1885-1972).
Howard operated the grist mill until retiring in 1948. Supposedly the grist mill was operated in the 1950s by Ambrose “Laffy” Serfass (1908-1985), a retired postman.
At one point in time, the building was bought by Oscar van Norman for his beverage distribution business.
I have written about the demolition of the grist mill in my remarks about the Kern’s saw mill.
It is a shame that someone decided that it had to be destroyed. Those massive slate, rubble walls (about three-feet thick) were built to withstand any catastrophe. With a new roof, the building would have been fine. But the mill would have been a complicating factor in any reconstruction of the Main Street bridge. My understanding is that there were two stones in the mill, one for flour and one for feed grain, and that they may have survived.
The site of Kern's grist mill at the bottom of the Main Street bridge in Slatington, 2023