Clifton Mill's 221-year history includes more than the gorgeous holiday lights
Dec. 8—Perched on the Clifton Gorge above the Little Miami River sits the historic Clifton Mill.
When it was built in 1802, it was thought to be the largest grist mill in existence at six stories tall. The mill provided flour and corn meal to Union soldiers during the Civil War.
Today, the Clifton Mill is known for its incredible holiday lights displays. With more than 4 million lights, it won the grand prize of $50,000 on ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight" in 2020.
However, we wanted to look beyond the lights to give readers some of the history of the Clifton Mill and let you know a little about the things that happen there year-round.
Ownership history
The mill was founded by former Revolutionary War soldier Owen Davis and was originally known as the Davis Mill. The Little Miami River powered several other mills in the area and a village was formed, called Davis Mills.
Davis sold the grist mill to Robert Patterson around 1810. Patterson, the father of NCR founder John Henry Patterson, renamed the village Cliff Town, eventually shortened to Clifton.
Patterson then sold the mill to the Armstrong family, which ran it for the next 20 years.
Next, the Preston family ran the mill for three generations, up until 1948.
Paul Carroll bought the mill in March of 1960. It was then known as "Old Clifton Mill."
At that time, the mill had not been in operation since before World War II. With a little repair and cleaning work, Carroll had it in operation again grinding corn meal, which he sold to local grocery stores. The hull, chaff and other byproducts were sold to farmers for swine feeding.
Robert Heller was 22 when he bought the mill in 1962. At the time, the mill had been out of production for 13 years.
Tom Davis, who as far as he knew was not related to the original builder, bought the mill in 1983. He was one of three partners of Seville Industries, which took over the mill in June, 1983.
Then Tony Satariano and his wife Pat purchased the mill in 1987, and their family continues to maintain, preserve and show off the site. Their son, Anthony Jr., one of the mill's co-owners, now oversees the yearlong process of decorating the mill, waterfalls and grounds.
Restorations
The current main building is the third to be built on the site. The other two were victims of fire back in the 1800s.
When the mill was damaged by fire in 1869, the Armstrong family added turbines, a new technology at the time that made the water wheel obsolete.
According the the Clifton Mill website, the generator for the mill was installed in 1908, and from 1908 to 1938, it ran 24 hours a day to provide electricity for many of the homes of Clifton, Cedarville and Yellow Springs for $1 a month.
An engineer by training, owner Robert Heller did a lot of restoration work himself during the 1960s. He practically tore all of the machinery apart piece by piece and rebuilt everything from the bearing to the turbine.
Just two months after purchasing the mill in 1983, Tom Davis put in a new dam where the old one was, and the Clifton Mill turbines were once again turned by water for the first time in more than a year and a half.
Davis also built a deck overlooking the waterfall for visitors to picnic on and a wooden footbridge across the creek. He remodeled the mill attic for storage and constructed restrooms.
In 1988, Tony Satariano installed a new 15-foot-diameter, two-ton water wheel designed by a local engineer named Charles Kimball.
The Satariano family also built the covered bridge in 1996 to connect the parking lot to the mill grounds, effectively making it the main entrance.
Holiday lights
When the holiday lights display began in the late 1980s, there were 110,000 lights around the property.
"They used to do this in our house," Tony Satariano Jr. told a Dayton Daily News reporter who visited in November 1988. "After (the family took over the property), dad moved everything out here."
The family already had a hefty collection of Santa Claus figures, and they put the more than 700 of them on display.
That was the start of what has become a nationally known lights display.
Open all year
The Clifton Mill is open for tours on weekdays during the spring and summer. Visitors can get an up-close look at the inner workings of the mill in action. Tours of the mill include seeing early machinery and stones still grinding grain into flour.
Strolling around the grounds at the mill visitors can see their 1940s Gas Station Museum, complete with original time period products and signs.
The Santa display shows off more than 3,500 Santa figures the Satariano family has collected for more than 60 years.
The Clifton Mill Restaurant, known for home-cooked meals, is open year-round. While dining, visitors get a scenic view of their authentic, 90-foot covered bridge and water wheel.
In the County Store, a giftshop decorated with antiques, visitors can purchase Clifton Mill made flour and pancake mixes. Also available are jams, candles, cookware, cards and more.
