Ralph Hunt built the earliest section of
this Mill to process wool sometime around 1810. His wool business failed, however, thanks to a permanent downturn in
the market for domestic cloth. By 1820 Ralph confessed to the Census that “the establishment has been doing very little
for two or three years past. The demand for sale of the cloths and sattinets are very dull…a few of the farmers get
their wool manufactured, but from the low prices of foreign cloths.” Things did not improve and Ralph lost all
of the family’s property, more than 400 acres and mills on both sides of the river. He defaulted on his mortgage, and
the Taylot family took ownership. From 1828 to 1834 John Bray and John B. Taylor took over running
the Woolen Mill. The Taylors, now the dominant merchant family, changed the name of the town from Hunt’s Mills to Clinton,
after the popular New York governor DeWitt Clinton. Bray and Taylor continued in the woolen business but they also diversified
by grinding feed, flour and stone plaister, as well as by selling chestnut wood for rails. They even opened a dry goods
establishment which carried everything from china to sheet iron. But Bray and Taylor also failed in their business,
selling it for three quarters of its purchase price. John W. Snyder, the new owner, refitted the Mill for grist and ceased wool production. But he too quickly fell into debt, and lost the property in 1842. After
a swift series of owners, the Easton Bank split the site into a mill and a quarry. In 1847 the Mill was sold to John F. Stiger
and John A. Young, who used it to grind flour and grist. In 1868 Young sold his part of the business to his partner,
John Stiger, who continued to operate it as a grist mill. In 1871 Stiger sold the mill and it again changed hands several times before it was purchased by
Philip Gulick in 1873. Gulick ground grist on the third and fourth floors of the mill and produced peach baskets in
the first level. In 1892 Gulick set up The Clinton Illuminating and Water Co. on the second floor of the mill. It provided
electricity for Clinton’s street lamps. Gulick died in 1901 and his widow rented the Mill to Elmer and Chester
Tomson and in 1905 they purchased it outright. Chester changed the mill’s operation to grist to graphite and for a short time the
mill became known as the “Black Mill”. The greasy black dust was wildly unpopular in town, and after a public
outcry he turned to grinding talc and the Mill was soon dubbed the “White Mill.”The talc mill was in operation day and night, with three run of stone, three elevators and one crusher.
Electricity powered the lights until midnight, when six kerosene torches took over. Two storage sheds had been
built between 1903 and 1912, one small in front of the mill and a larger behind. In 1928 Chester sold the mill to the
Clinton Water Supply Company, and the mill ceased operations. Today the Mill houses a large portion of the Museum’s collection. Each floor
tells a small part of the history of this building and its ever changing role within the Clinton Community.
Echoes from the Quarry WallsThe first faint echoes of the Mulligan family were heard on Quarry Hill
in 1848 when two of the four Mulligan Brothers, Frank and Pat, purchased the property from the Easton Bank for $100 dollars
down. Seven years later they sold the business to J.P. Huffman who immediately resold it to local businessman George
Gulick. It was from Gulick that the eldest Mulligan Brother, James, leased the quarry in 1858, continuing the business
his brothers started. Under James’s leadership the echo became a rumble. James’s business was on a mostly
barter basis. He exchanged stone for everything from livestock to liquor. By 1860 James ran three lime kilns built
a two familytenant house on site, produced
25,000 bushels of lime annually, charged 10 cents per bushel and netted $2,500 in profit. James’s wife Catherine
and five children soon emigrated from Ireland to Clinton. Catherine’s brothers, William and Pat, moved to Clinton as
well and worked as laborers in the quarry. Other Irish immigrants were arriving in Clinton at this time. Most,
like the Mulligans, settled on Halstead Street and many found occasional work at the Quarry.When James died in 1862 the quarry business passed to his sons. His youngest
son, Michael headed the company and under his leadership the rumble in the quarry became a roar. Gone were the
days of barter and instead the Mulligan brothers expected cash on the barrelhead. Within four years the brothers were
able to raise enough money to put a down payment on the quarry, and it was back under Mulligan ownership. Michael soon
expanded upon the seasonal quarry business first by cutting and storing ice for sale in the summer, and then with the advent
of the Railroad in 1875 by selling coal during the winter season. Michael was at an advantage, in coal sales. He
bartered gravel for the rail beds in exchange for cheaper rates on his coal shipments. With the arrival of the
automobile, stone from the M.C. Mulligan quarry also filled the network of road beds that soon blanketed the region. The
stone for the foundation of the Town Hall and Library on Main street was donated by the Mulligan brothers, and after the great
fire of 1891, Mulligan stone was used to rebuild the town of Clinton. The Mulligan
Quarry business was in continual operation through to the 1960s. Michael Mulligan’s Lime Kilns still stand today
as do five of the early Quarry buildings including the Quarry Office, Screen House, Dynamite Shed, Blacksmith Shop and Tenant
House. The stories of the Mulligans, quarrymen and tenant families help bring these buildings to life.
The Voices of Our FoundersFive community-minded men, known affectionately as the Red Mill Five, acted
with vision and courage when they bought the derelict Red Mill to restore as a museum. Monroe DeMott was president of
Shive, Wright and Exton, a real estate and insurance firm; Cyrus Fox owned Cyrus R. Fox, Inc. lumberyard; Ralph Howard was
a restaurateur who owned and ran Clinton House; Robert Lechner was a teacher who founded and ran a camp in Stanton; and James
Marsh was a well known artist and musician. The story began in 1960,
when the Red Mill Five, spearheaded by James Marsh and Monroe DeMott, finally succeeded in buying the landmark Red Mill on
the west Five, spearheaded by James Marsh and Monroe DeMott, finally succeeded in buying the landmark Red Mill on the west
bank of the South Branch of the Raritan River for $15,000. For the next 12 years, the Red Mill Five met at noon on Fridays
at the Clinton House to turn their vision into reality. The first three years were
about the hard, hands-on, physical work as the large, empty building was cleaned and repaired, the roof and waterwheel replaced,
a curator hired and a collection started through donations from the local community. In 1963, the Clinton Historical
Museum opened to the public. In 1964, James Marsh bought the Mulligan Quarry and donated it to the museum.
The museum and grounds were officially dedicated in 1965. By 1972 the Red Mill Five were ready to pass the baton,
and other community members stepped forward to continue their mission to protect the Mill, its collections and our local heritage.
The museum grew and, over the years, became known as the Hunterdon Historical Museum in 1996 and, in 2002, became the
Red Mill Museum Village. Thanks to the Red Mill Five, the Red Mill Museum Village is today a priceless National and
State Historic site.
Bunker Hill Schoolhouse, Carriage
Sheds and Log Cabin The first historic buildings moved to site were the 19th century carriage sheds donated by the Clinton
Presbyterian Church in 1965. The sheds were offered but only if the Museum could move them. Howard DeMott dismantled
the sheds, Fox Lumber moved them, and DeMott reassembled them. They were brought to the site to house the Hiram Deats
collection of farm machinery, as well as additional large farm equipment and transportation vehicles that have since been
donated to the Museum. 1860 Bunker Hill Schoolhouse was moved to the Museum grounds from a site near Sky Manor Airport in
Franklin Township. Former Curator Claire Young remembers that moving the school house took several days even though
it was only five miles away. She followed behind the building picking up pieces of the siding that fell in the road,
to replace later. Some of those boards had the school children’s initials carved in them from long ago. Today
the school is visited by over 4,000 school children annually who are given a taste of what education was like in a one room
schoolhouse.Two years later as part of the Bicentenial celebration a replica
log cabin, modeled on the early 18th century childhood home of local Revolutionary War General, Daniel Morgan, was constructed.
It took the volunteers a year to build the cabin. It originally had a sod roof which had to be watered during
dry spells with a sump pump in the river and a generator. Next to the Log Cabin is a Colonial herb garden and
spring house (dedicated in the 1980s) all of which are used to tell visitors the story of the earliest Colonial settlers.
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