Mormon Mill is a vanished Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

 colony established in 1851 on Hamilton Creek in Burnet County

Burnet County, Texas

Burnet County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population was 34,147. The 2008 Census Bureau Estimate was 44,488. Its county seat is Burnet. Burnet is named for David Gouverneur Burnet, the first president of the Republic of Texas...

, in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. The site is located on Mormon Mills Road 5 miles (8 km) north of Marble Falls

Marble Falls, Texas

Marble Falls is a city in Burnet County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,959 at the 2000 census.Marble Falls is about northwest of Austin and north of San Antonio...

 and 10 miles (16.1 km) south of Burnet

Burnet, Texas

Burnet is a city in and the county seat of Burnet County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,735 at the 2000 census.Both the city and the county were named for David Gouverneur Burnet, the first president of the Republic of Texas. He also served as Vice President during the...

. Mormon Mill has also been known as Mormon Mills, Mormon Mill Colony and Mormon Mill Historical Site. Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark is a designation awarded by the Texas Historical Commission for historically and architecturally significant properties in the state of Texas....

 in 1936, Marker number 9733.

The settlement

Upon leaving Zodiac

Zodiac, Texas

Zodiac is a vanished Mormon settlement established in 1847 on the Pedernales River, located southeast of Fredericksburg, in Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. It was the first Mormon colony established by Lyman Wight in Texas. The second settlement was Mormon Mill, Burnet County, Texas...

 in Gillespie County in 1851, Lyman Wight

Lyman Wight

Lyman Wight was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the leader of the Latter Day Saints in Daviess County, Missouri in 1838. In 1841, he was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr...

 led a group which settled at Hamilton Creek to establish their new colony. As they had at Zodiac, the colonists set up mills for flour, grist, lumber and cotton, along with their furniture factories. One of their achievements was a three-story mill and 26 feet (7.9 m) water wheel by a wooden dam they had erected on the creek. Self-sustaining, while also supplying needed goods and services to nearby communities, the colonists engaged in agriculture, the blacksmith and furniture trades, as well as basketry and clothing manufacturing. Forty-five of the colonists signed the 1851 petition to create Burnet County.

In Burnet County, the Mormons suffered religious persecution, lived in fear of Indian depredations, and found themselves in financial debt. Wight decided to move the group elsewhere, and sold the property to Noah Smithwick. Some of the Mormons remained in Burnet County to work at the mill. Smithwick opened a store and a school for the remaining Mormons, and made mill modifications to encourage use by local farmers. In December 1853 Wight and his followers moved to Bandera County

Bandera County, Texas

Bandera County, formed in 1856 from Bexar and Uvalde counties, is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population is 17,645. Its county seat is Bandera. Bandera is named for the Spanish word for flag...

, establishing Mormon Camp in March of 1854. While working to establish Mormon Camp, Wight died and was returned to Zodiac for burial. Mormon Camp is now located beneath the man-made Medina Lake

Medina Lake

Medina Lake is a reservoir on the Medina River in the Texas Hill Country of the United States. It is operated by the Bexar/Medina/Atascosa County Agricultural District. Medina Dam was completed in 1913 in a privately financed project, creating the lake to supply irrigation water for local...

in Bandera County.

Post Wight

Noah Smithwick eventually sold Mormon Mill to his nephew John R. Hubbard. A post office was established on May 23, 1856, with Hubbard as the first postmaster.The post office had four postmasters before being discontinued in April 10, 1860, only to be re-established May 17, 1860, with Joshua H. Eubank as postmaster. The post office was again discontinued January 20, 1869, but re-established June 6, 1870 with Louis Thomas as postmaster. It was then discontinued October 3, 1871, but re-established November 13, 1871, with Louis Winter as postmaster. The post office was discontinued permanently May 6, 1875. The mill had several owners, and the population declined after the post office closed for the last time in 1875. The mill closed permanently in 1901, and most of the structures either later burned down, or the materials recycled elsewhere. The Mormon cemetery remains.