YOUNGSTOWN — A sudden blizzard didn’t deter about a dozen people from gathering at Ford Nature Center Saturday morning for a lecture on the history of Lanterman’s Mill by its manager, Eric Simione.

Simione was a Boardman High School teacher for 33 years until he retired in 2023. He loves to research everything from labor history and the Supreme Court to rock ‘n’ roll, as evidenced by his discussion the previous evening about Bruce Springsteen and his song “Youngstown.”

Last year, he became the manager at Lanterman’s Mill, where he maintains the facility, schedules tours and operates the gift shop. Although he grew up in Youngstown and moved to Boardman at age 10, he admitted that as a child he did not know Mill Creek Park intimately so he continues to learn more about the park, including the mill.

He noted the 180-year-old structure is an iconic image. “If you do a Google search of Youngstown one of the first things you come up with is Lanterman’s Mill,” Simione said.

In 1797, Phineas Hill and Isaac Powers surveyed land for owner John Young. When they saw the waterfall, they knew it was valuable property. Young agreed to sell them the acreage under the condition that they set up a grist mill as quickly as possible to feed the growing population.

The “Hill Mill” operated for about 20 years. It was not remarkable considering at the time there were 1,861 water-propelled mills in Ohio and 17 in Mahoning County alone, Simione said.

The second building on the site was the Eli Baldwin Mill, which was erected in 1823. In 1843, it was washed away by a flood.

Two years later, Samuel Kimberly and his brother-in-law, German Lanterman, built the structure that stands today. Simione noted that Kimberly has been mostly lost to local history and joked that he was “the Art Garfunkel” of the partnership.

Because of what happened to the Baldwin Mill, Lanterman and Kimberly used sandstone and limestone walls that are 10 feet thick at the bottom. It is wider at the base to give it more stability.

The mill operated until 1888. It was then used for swimming and sunbathing, complete with a changing room and a hot dog vendor. Eventually it became a nature museum and remained so until the 1980s, when it was restored to serve as a mill.

It was rumored to be a distillery during Prohibition. Although Simione has not found any proof of this, Youngstown City Council outlawed swimming in 1918 — right before the 18th Amendment was ratified — and the nature museum was established in 1933 just as alcohol was again legalized.

Today, Lanterman’s Mill greets 12,000 visitors from May to October plus the annual Christmas at the Mill event. This does not include countless hikers in all seasons who stop to admire the scenery, Simione said.