Shaker Grist Mill
The Hancock Shaker Village was founded in 1790 and by the middle of the nineteenth century had grown to include over 3000 acres and 300 members.
Most of the Central or “Church” Family was located in the town of Hancock, but there were also several outlying families within the city limits of Pittsfield. The East Family lived along West Housatonic St. and also on Lebanon Ave. near the junction of Melbourne Avenue and the Southwest Branch of the Housatonic River.
In 1823 the Shakers purchased a former mill site on the river and erected a grist mill for processing grain. Although originally bult for their own purposes, it was improved and enlarged in 1850 and 1867 and became open to the community and was one of the largest grist mills in all of Berkshire County.
Shaker Grist Mill on Lebanon Avenue- View from West
On April 7, 1915 a fire, likely arson, broke out at the mill and it was burned to the stone foundations. The replacement cost was thought to be $12,000 and Shaker Elder Joseph Holden stated that there was no insurance and no money to rebuild.
Miraculously, the Shakers and the local community worked together and a new mill building was erected on the old foundation.
Nearby residents, Romeo Coty and his brother Seymour were previous managers of the mill and they leased the property from the Shakers. The mill reopened on June 14, 1915 only nine weeks after it had burned.
The Coty Brothers and other companies leased the mill until 1925 when it was finally closed and eventually torn down. Remnants of the mill dam and foundation, almost 15 feet high, are still present in the river.
The Mills of Pittsfield 