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The original Anderson Mill was located on the banks of Cypress Creek, a few hundred feet below our current site. The spot is normally beneath the waters of Lake Travis, created by the building of Mansfield Dam in 1941. The mill had been in disuse since the turn of the century and had gradually fallen to ruins, but in the 1920s and 30s, the area was a popular place to picnic, swim and wash cars.
Every few years, the lake level drops below elevation 660 feet, exposing the original site. Archeological studies of the site were conducted by historian, A.T. Jackson, in 1948, and the University of Texas Archeological Society in 1963. In 1964, while the replica mill was being built, members retrieved a large limestone rock from the site, and placed it by the current mill pond. Many different subdivisions, roads, schools, and businesses in the vicinity of US-183 and FM 620 are named in honor of this historic mill.
Thomas Anderson, who built the original mill, was born in Pennsylvania in 1820, where he learned the trade of millwright. As a young adult, he emigrated to Warren County, Virginia to practice his trade. There, he met and married his wife, Lucy Hoffman. After their fourth child was born in December 1859, they packed their belongings into a covered wagon and headed for Texas. They first settled in spring of 1860 east of Austin on Gilleland Creek, near the homes of some Austin millers, where he worked as a millwright, maintaining existing mills. In his off time, he thoroughly explored Travis County until he found a spot at the headwaters of Cypress Creek, a very reliable water source, with the right topography for establishing a water-powered mill. Anderson built his first home and the mill about 1861.
It was built as a corn grist mill, but in 1863, he signed a contract with the State to produce gunpowder for the Confederate Army. His associate, Nicholas Hays, became the chief powder-maker (chemist). Anderson ground the components (potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur), and Hays conducted the delicate process of combining the ingredients into black powder, which was then sold to the Texas State Military Board. This activity was only conducted for two short years.
After the war ended, Anderson’s mill was converted back to grinding corn. In the 1870s, nearby farmers found the land suitable for cotton production, and Anderson obliged them by installing a cotton gin at the mill, powered by the same mill wheel. During the 1870s and 80s, the mill became a busy place with farmers from all around the area coming with their families to process their corn and cotton and visit with each other. There was even an Anderson’s Mill Post Office from 1876 through 1884.
In 1886, the center of activity and Post Office was moved 5 miles west to Volente. Anderson's son, Abe, married Allie Cluck, who was from the pioneering Cluck family in Cedar Park. She became Postmistress and advertised a contest to name the new town. She selected the name “Volente”, said to be an Indian word meaning "God Willing". Her teen-aged daughter, Minnie, began delivering mail around the area, riding side-saddle on horseback. One of her saddles and a picture of her with her horse are in our museum. The Volente Post Office operated until 1909.
When Thomas died in 1894, steam-powered mills and gins in Austin had taken over the business, so the old mill was not used or maintained. His grown children farmed for a few years, but then, moved to Austin to assume white-collar occupations. The buildings eventually collapsed, and the stone debris was removed and reused prior to flooding by Mansfield Dam. The rocks at the base of our flagpole were saved at that time. The actual grist mill machine was sold to another miller in the area. Granddaughter Minnie kept track of the machine’s whereabouts, and when the replica was built, she was able to retrieve the old device. The wooden parts were mostly decayed and were discarded, but the two millstones and one of the legs are preserved and displayed in our replica mill house.
In 1936, in celebration of the State’s centennial, a granite historical marker was placed near the remnants of the old mill. Prior to flooding by the dam in the early 1940s, it was moved to higher ground in Cypress Creek Park. In 1965, after the Gardeners had constructed the replica, the marker was finally moved to its current location at the base of the museum driveway.
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