Bloomfield Historical Society to focus on Bloomfield Mills

BLOOMFIELD — The Historical Society of Bloomfield will present “The History of the Early Morris Mills in Bloomfield’s Brookdale Section” with Bloomfield resident Mark Wiley on Oct. 24.

Wiley will give a presentation on the saw and grist mills that the Morris family built in the Brookdale section of Bloomfield, according to a press release about the event.

The Morris family settled in Bloomfield in the late 1600s and built a saw mill in 1702 fed by what is now Clarks Pond. A short time later, the Morris family built a downstream grist mill located near Bay Avenue.

Wiley is a long-time resident of Bloomfield who has worked in Bloomfield as an engineer at Lummus since 1981. His hobby is conducting historical and genealogical research, with a special interest in mills, as some of Wiley’s ancestors were millers, the release said.

Wiley has done extensive research on the Morris family and will explain in his presentation the mechanical workings of both saw and grist mills, as well as show videos of operating mills. Additionally, he will provide a history of the Morris family, including Ephraim Morris, the inventor of the Morris Canal inclined plane mechanism.

The event is free, open to the public, and scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. It will be held in the Bloomfield Civic Center, 84 Broad St., Bloomfield. Parking is in the State Street lot behind the Bloomfield Public Library.

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