I set out this week to discover the source of a name --- Phoenix Flouring Mill, a commercial mainstay of Chariton from its earliest days until 1913 when the whole thing went up in smoke for the second and final time.
The mill, Chariton's first, was located with its millpond on the west half of Block 37, Coolbaugh & Brooks Addition, just west of the corner lot where Sacred Heart Church was constructed during 1915. It is shown here on a Sanborn Fire Insurance map dated July 1913. Today, the site is occupied by a recycled car dealership building and a parking lot for trucks.
As it happened, Dan Baker answered my question about the source of the name in this paragraph lifted from his 1881 history of Lucas County:
"The first flour mill built in Chariton was located on what is now part of block thirty-seven of Coolbaugh & Brooks addition. It was built by D.N. Smith in 1857. It changed owners several times previous to 1867 when it was purchased by Lewis & Bro., who have operated it since. In November, 1880, it was burned to the ground, but was immediately rebuilt, and very appropriately called the Phoenix Mills."
So that's why it was called "Phoenix." Like the mythological immortal bird, it arose from the ashes of its predecessor --- the first time.
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David N. Smith, who built the mill originally, was an interesting character, prominent during Chariton's earliest years. He was a Methodist preacher who paired a passion for sharing the Gospel with equal enthusiasm for making money. The mill was among his many enterprises.
By the time he died at home in Burlington, age 63, during 1879 he owned thousands of acres in southwest Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado. As death neared, however, his thoughts returned to the church and after willing sufficient funds to his wife, Sophia, to ensure that she could live comfortably but not extravagantly, he divided the bulk of his fortune among Simpson College in Indianola and an obscure "Ladies Academy" in upstate New York. Simpson continues to flourish; the New York academy went belly up not long after, scattering the Rev. Mr. Smith's bequest to the wind.
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Elijah dated the brothers' arrival in Chariton via stage coach from Burlington to Feb. 18, 1867, after having moved west from Pennsylvania to southeast Iowa immediately after the Civil War. He was a distinguished veteran of that war, having served first as lieutenant and then captain of Company F, 8th Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops.
The extended Lewis family in Chester County had been notably abolitionist and that conviction had created a conflict for Elijah between his birthright of Quaker pacifism and his desire to join the fight to ensure the end of slavery and preserve the Union.
Elijah was very well educated for his time and had worked as a teacher in Pennsylvania prior to the war, but as was the case in many Quaker families he also had received training in a useful trade --- milling. Evan, while bright and personable, also was a notable alcoholic, always dependent to one degree or another on Elijah who eventually ended up serving as surrogate father to his children. Elijah himself never married.
The brothers set to work in Lucas County after purchasing what was known at the time as the Chariton Mills and by the autumn of 1880 had built a very successful business, then disaster struck. Here's the report as published The Chariton Leader of Nov. 20, 1880:
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Chariton has escaped from serious fires so long that it began to look as though she was blessed with good luck, but the fire demon came at last, leaving one of her oldest and most valuable business establishments in ashes. On last Sunday morning, when the greater number of her good citizens were in bed taking a quiet Sunday rest, the alarm of fire rang out in shrill tones, awakening the city.
Flames had been discovered issuing from the roof of Elijah Lewis' mill and the first alarm as given by the hideous screeching of the engines near the depot. A large crowd of anxious people were soon on the ground, also the fire companies, but too late to save the building, although the Engine Company managed to save some valuable machinery by throwing a heavy stream of water on it. A considerable quantity of flour was saved, but a lot of bran and grists were destroyed, the latter belonging to country customers. Eikenberry & Stewart lost about $500 worth of corn, which was there for the purpose of being shelled.
Mr. Lewis had owned the mill for 14 years and worked hard to make it an establishment worthy of our city, and had expended money in repairing and refitting it with the best appliances and machinery, until he had expended ten thousand dollars on the mill alone, which is his estimated loss, and strange to say, there is not a dollar of insurance on it, the rates being very high and the property so near clear of debt the owner had taken out no policy for some time back.
The cause of the fire is a mystery, as it evidently originated in the upper story farthest from the engine. Mr. Lewis certainly has the deepest sympathies of the public for his severe loss, and should he determine to rebuild, will doubtless meet with a hearty encouragement from all.
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Without insurance, Elijah looked to an investor in order to rebuild the mill and found one in George J. Stewart, then partnered with Daniel Eikenberry in the firm Eikenberry & Stewart, lumber merchants and dealers in grain and coal.
The business rose from the ashes and was rechristened as the Phoenix Mills, but early in the 1880s passed into sole ownership of Mr. Stewart as the Lewis family moved on to other pursuits.
Elijah was elected county treasurer, then during January of 1883 with his sister, Lucretia, purchased The Chariton Patriot from George H. Ragsdale and launched his career as a newspaper editor and publisher. Lucretia (1836-1899) seems to have been business manager of the operation; Elijah, the editor and principal writer; and Evan, very capable when sober, active in all aspects of the operation but not a financial partner in it.
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G.J. Stewart continued to operate the Phoenix Mills until January of 1901 when he sold the business to William A. Eikenberry (1876-1948), son of his former partner, Daniel Eikenberry, who continued to operate it until July of 1913 when disaster struck again, as reported in The Leader of July 3:
The Phoenix Mill and Elevator was burned in this city, late Thursday night. The origin of the fire is unknown, but the building was entirely consumed and the machinery ruined. there was a large amount of grain in the elevator at the time, which was either consumed or rendered worthless. About a car load of flour was in the ware room, which was also destroyed. The mill and equipment belonged to Will Eikenberry but the grain and flour was the property of McKlveen & Eikenberry. The insurance on contents was $1,500 and one the mill and equipment, $4,300. The mill will probably be rebuilt and a brick or cement structure will be erected.
A new mill did not arise this time from the ashes of the old, exactly. Instead, it's operations were incorporated into a new elevator built during late 1913 by the partnership of Samuel McKlveen and Will Eikenberry, doing business as McKlveen & Eikenberry, on the triangular-shaped lot immediately to the west where the McKlveen Brothers' lumber yard formerly had been located.
McKlveen & Eikenberry headquarters, and the firm's lumber yard, were located by this time on the current site of the Autumn Park apartments at the intersection of North Main and Auburn.
So that was the end of the Phoenix Mill --- a business that managed to rise from the ashes of its destruction once, but not twice. Here's how the mill site looks today, courtesy of Google Maps.
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