History
 

It is hard to imagine life today without electricity and oil to power our lifestyle and industry, but not that long ago the only power available was from water, steam or draft animals. Water power has been used for more than 2000 years to grind grain, pump water and perform many other functions. It is not surprising, therefore, that early Texans harnessed the power of our rivers. 

Several mills were built along the San Marcos River during the late 1800’s. The Zedler Mill, which is the only remaining example, was established in 1874 as the Luling community’s grist mill. A simple stone dam was built by Leonidas Hardeman and two brothers, John and James Merriweather - all three from Tennessee. They added a cotton gin to the site in 1883 and installed a water wheel at the dam to produce power for their machine shop. It was known as the Merriweather Mill at that time.

In 1885, Bob Innes, John Orchard, J.K. Walker, and a German immigrant mill expert named Fritz Zedler purchased the site and mill equipment naming it the ‘Luling Water Power Company’.

Soon the partners added a lumber sawmill and Fritz Zedler replaced the existing stone dam with a wooden dam and penstocks that could generate more power. Buying out his three partners within a few years, Fritz Zedler became sole owner in 1888 and invited his oldest son, Berthold, to be his partner. Not long after the acquisition, the entire three story factory caught fire in Oct. 1888 and was totally destroyed. The citizens of Luling promised to hold the sale of their cotton crops for the Zedlers to rebuild. Devastated but not giving up, the Zedler family rebuilt the mill factory and within seven weeks it was operational. 

Over three generations the Zedler family continued to improve the cotton-grist-lumber mill factory. Steam engines, a concrete dam, mule barns, and a blacksmith shop were added. In 1894, sons Herman and Carl Zedler installed a generator to supply the town of Luling with electric power and the mill remained the only power and water supplier for Luling until the 1920’s. The old grinding stones for the grist mills were replaced with more modern roller mills and the Zedlers added flour milling to the business along with animal sweet and chop feed products. In the 1950’s they were still marketing a chicken feed product called Henscratch and grinding fine cornmeal for Luling’s dinner tables.

The unique 80 year history of the Zedler Mill is a true cultural story of how the local settlers adapted and profited during the turn of the century, but by the late 1950's the mill slowly fell into disrepair and sadly relinquished itself to modern ways of industry. In the fate of private hands all of the mill equipment and power apparatus, with the excep­tion of the turbines, was sold off for scrap. 

In 2002 the Luling Economic Development Corporation purchased the property for the City of Luling. The Zedler Mill Foundation, a non-profit foundation, was formed in 2007 for the purpose of restoring and developing the mill site. Over the past five years, the Zedler Mill Foundation and the City has invested more than $1.5 million in improving and restoring the mill buildings and site. The property is now a city park and a proud Luling historical landmark for all to enjoy.

Click here to download the Zedler Mill Historic Brochure