Hatch Mill Restoration & Preservation Group, Inc.

Run of the mill project

Wed, Mar 24, 2004
By Alice Coyle / acoyle@cnc.com

Restoration group gearing up to save a piece of local history
The man behind Marshfield's extraordinary skate park was honored as the 2003 Citizen of the Year just a month ago, but Roy Kirby doesn't have time to rest on his laurels.

Kirby is president of the recently formed Hatch Mill Restoration and Preservation Group which has taken on the monumental task of bringing the 18th century sawmill located off Union Street back to life. On Saturday, March 13, the non-profit group signed the purchase and sale agreement to buy the old mill from the Marshfield Historical Society, which had owned the property since 1968.

The last Hatch to own the mill - Franklin Decker Hatch - gives a tour of the site to former Marshfield Historical Society President Pearl Whittaker and John Vogel in 1968. (Photos courtesy of the Marshfield Historical Society.)

Kirby's group bought the mill for $1 and has taken over the $43,000 mortgage on the property while planning a restoration and renovation that will likely top $1 million when it's complete, he estimates.

Working alongside Kirby in this effort are Jack and Bobby Clancy serving as Vice President and Clerk of the Hatch Mill Restoration and Preservation Group.

Historical Society president Jack Braithwaite couldn't be happier to see the old mill in Kirby's capable hands. Kirby, is after all, known to many in Marshfield as a man who gets things done around town.
"I've been working on this since 1968, and have been chairman of the Hatch Mill

Committee since 1970," said Braithwaite, who will serve on the new group's board of directors. "I'm very, very happy Roy Kirby and Jack Clancy have come forward with a plan to restore and preserve the mill. It will be a really wonderful day when they finish their work."

One of the first fundraisers for the Hatch Mill was the Harvest Home Tour of Old Two Mile held November 23, 1968. In this photo by Barye Hall, published in the South Shore Mirror, Marshfield Historical Society President Pearl Whittaker and Donald Kimball ride past the Hatch Mill and through the Hatch Homestead owned by the Messer family.

The mill, which had run for more than 200 years came to a grinding halt in 1965. And for more than three decades Braithwaite has had hopes of restoring the mill to a fully functioning machine again, making the historic site not only a tourist attraction but also an educational tool for generations to come.

Built in 1752 by Israel Hatch, the site was first used as a gristmill, but was converted to a sawmill featuring an up and down saw blade in 1812 by Deacon Joel Hatch. In 1859, under the ownership of Samuel Hatch the two-story structure was added at the site. Boxboards were cut on the first floor of the mill building and Samuel had plans to use the second floor to make boxes. Those plans fell through, and in 1872 Samuel's son, Samuel Franklin Hatch returned from the Civil War, bought the mill from his father and made some major changes to the operation. Samuel Franklin Hatch installed a more modern circular saw to replace the up and down blade, along with a turbine water wheel, both of which vastly improved production at the site. The mill operated for another 93 years supplying wood products for home, building and ship construction. The last Hatch in charge - Franklin Decker Hatch - ceased work at the mill in 1965 and sold the property to Norwell resident Robert Reed for $6,000. Reed would double his investment just three years later when he in turn sold the mill to the Marshfield Historical Society for $12,000.

Fundraising efforts for the Hatch Mill swung into full gear in the months following the purchase. The society had set some lofty goals -

To restore the Hatch Mill to operable condition with the up and down saw,
Operate the facility as an educational experience for the general public and for students,
Halt disappearance of early American Craftsmanship from our area
Preserve the mill as a living example of an early New England Industry.

Yellowing newspaper clips saved in a leather album chronicle the historical society's campaign to restore the mill. From auctions and door-to-door solicitations to the Harvest Home Tour of Old Two Mile held Nov. 23. 1968, the Hatch Mill Committee of the historical society hatched dozens of fundraisers to cover the costs of repairs and restoration work which Braithwaite said he quickly learned would be high.
"When we bought the mill we had an architectural firm -Perry, Dean & Stewart - look at it and let us know what it would take to restore it and get it up to snuff," Braithwaite recalled. The Boston architects wouldn't be the only group to assess and study the mill.

The committee also reports hiring Preservation Research - an engineering and contracting firm to prepare a diagnostic survey of the earliest portion of the Hatch Mill at a cost of $375 in the early years of ownership. And in 1971 the group "engaged the services of Kirby Keller, a consultant and contractor for Plimoth Plantation to prepare working drawings and restoration estimates on the mill."

Keller's plans, while never built on 33 years ago, were dusted off this week and handed over to the Hatch Mill Restoration and Preservation group. It was an incredible find, says Kirby who met with a group of Hatch Mill abutters Sunday to hear their concerns and feedback about the proposed restoration project. Kirby found more than just a little sense of fate in the architect's first name.

"Bill McMullen had the drawings and brought them to our meeting," said Kirby, who hopes to follow those plans three decades after they were first penned. "It's going to save us a lot of money and a lot of time," he said.

Of course, as he has done with the skate park, Kirby plans to solicit the help of dozens of volunteers and draw on the generosity of donors in tackling the mill project.

Braithwaite said Kirby has already been networking with and going after what he called some "heavy hitters" to help finance the restoration.

Kirby's personal interest in the mill dates back to 1987 when he first wrote to the Historical Society with a plan to restore the structure and use it as a wood working studio for his carpentry business Craftsmanship with Pride.

"I was interested in the mill as a building," Kirby said. " I read about it and knew the historical society used to have tours there."

But by the mid-to-late 1980s, Kirby said the mill was boarded up and he could see signs that kids had been going in the building without permission and hanging out there. In his proposal to the historical society, Kirby provided his background and shared his desire to give young people in the community a closer working relationship with history. "I wanted to do something for the community and preserve an historic treasure," Kirby recalled.

The historical society didn't take Kirby up on the offer then. He built his own wood working studio next to his Furnace Street home, but Kirby said he continued to keep an eye on the old mill and to keep in contact with Braithwaite and the historical society. Kirby pitched in at another historical society property and did some roof work at the Marcia Thomas House, but the mill was always on his mind.

And so it was for Braithwaite. But limited resources and a Hatch Mill Committee that had dwindled from 16 members to just 4 by the summer of 2001, led Braithwaite to the difficult decision to sell the property.
"We didn't have the people power or the resources to do anything with the mill." While some renovations and repairs had been made over the years including work to the slueceway and the interior of first floor of the building in the 1970s, and the area near the turbine during the 1980s, by the late 1990s the structure had fallen into serious disrepair. Roof shingling work undertaken in 1978 by a high school sponsored group called "Project Enterprise" had given way to time and weather leaving an entire section of the structure wide open to the elements. The mill structure leans heavily to the south and the structure has become unstable, Braithwaite said.

When the property first went on the market, Braithwaite said the historical society was looking for a buyer willing to preserve and restore the structure for use as a mill. There was some interest in the site, but none in saving the mill. "There was one person who wanted to build an art studio inside and someone else who wanted to knock it down and build a house there," he said.

Then six months ago, Kirby's friend and fellow Kiwanis member Jack Clancy came to him and suggested they take on a project to restore the old mill. "Jack said he went by the mill it was just incredible," Kirby recalled.

With a willing partner, and a sense there were people within the community eager to preserve the mill, Kirby found himself writing to the historical society once again and this time around found a very receptive audience for his plan to create both an educational site and living history museum.

"They were very pleased with the scope of the plan," which Kirby said was first and foremost education based.

As it was with the skate park, Kirby's vision for the mill is a grand one and includes not only a fully operational mill with the restored up and down saw blade - currently riding in the back of his truck - but also a blacksmith shop on site and a conference room for classes and historical programs.

Kirby envisions a woodworking shop at the mill where people would be working all the time and a sawyer's apartment whose tenant would also serve as caretaker for the property.

In restoring the mill, the first order of business will be to shore up the roof with braces to hold the structure up, Kirby said. Even with a design plan in hand, Kirby said he'll to turn to other experts in the building field and older residents with a knowledge of post and beam construction. After documenting everything in the building, Kirby said it will be dismantled and the wood will be sorted. "We'll go through the wood and anything that can be saved will be stored in trailers until we begin construction. Kirby estimates the project will take about 2-1/2 years to complete, but the discovery of Keller's plans could shorten that timeframe.
In the meantime, Kirby said the Hatch Mill Restoration and Preservation Group is looking for volunteers of all ages. Working on the project could give young people interested in getting involved in the building trade invaluable experience, noted Kirby. The project already has a Web site - www.hatchmill.org - to give the mill national attention and with its non-profit status, the group will go for whatever historic grants are available at the state and federal level.

Fundraising is one of Kirby's fortes and he's already planning tool auctions and other events to draw more community interest and involvement in the project.

"We're going to stretch that dollar we paid for the mill a long way."

Interest is already growing, said Kirby, who noted that many people have come down to the site and given him business cards and asked to be a part of the project. But Kirby does request that until the building is made stable residents refrain from visiting the mill for safety sake.

Kirby's enthusiasm for the restoration is indomitable. "The Hatch Mill has been like its saw, an up and down project over the years. But this is a dream project," he said. "We're going to save the mill. We're going to do this right so it will last another 300 years and be a treasure for the community and future generations."

HATCH MILL CAST IN STUDENT’S FILM: Director hopes to raise money to renovate historic site

Students work to save Hatch Mill

Run of the mill project