Fordham Mill Added To Endangered Places Registry

Between the fork in the road that splits Montauk Highway and Old Montauk Highway in Remsenburg sits the Fordham Mill, a deteriorating brick-and-mortar structure that has been empty since 2006.

A symbol of the hamlet's industrial history, the mill’s unsightly state has frustrated some in the community. It has also been on the radar of historic groups and at one point gained the interest of the Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund as a prospect to purchase for preservation. Most recently, the building earned recognition from the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, which nominated the mill last month to the Endangered Historic Places registry.

As a building on this registry, the society hopes to bring recognition and awareness to the mill's status.

“Our concern is that it is not being utilized,” Jason Crowley, the director of the preservation society, said recently. “It's suffering from neglect. It is also a resource that the town and community have identified as significant, and it's not being preserved to the level that it ought to be.”

The society started the endangered list in 2010. The organization takes nominations from Long Island residents and historical groups, then researches and visits each site before members of the society cast ballots. This is the fourth time the registry has been updated.

The Fordham Mill was built by Daniel Wells Tuttle in 1859. A dam on the Speonk River powered the sawmill, which the Tuttle family ran until it was purchased by E.O. Fordham in 1911 and converted to electric power. Mr. Fordham made carriages, wagon wheels and coffins, according to documents at the Westhampton Beach Historical Society.

In 1985, Peter Ring and his family bought the mill, and soon after, Southampton Town designated it a historic landmark, limiting its use to operations like an art studio or antiques shop. The building was in fact used as an antique furniture store until 2006, Mr. Ring said.

“Most people have only seen what the mill looks like from the outside, but the best part to me is the interior,” he said, with its brick and mortar walls, high rafters and wood plank floors in the original section of the mill.

Mr. Ring said his family has been trying to sell the property since 2006, but have had trouble keeping buyers interested. The property has been in contract three times, and one potential buyer went so far as to submit a site plan to the Town Planning Board. That deal was abandoned in 2008, Mr. Ring said, because of the declining economy.

Mr. Ring said he and his family are hesitant to invest more money in the property. Listed for $1.35 million, it has been on the market almost nine years.

According to the Town Code, owners of historic landmarks can petition to alter allowed uses on the property, but must prove that it cannot be adapted for any already permitted use that will result in a “reasonable return.”

Petitions are also granted if a property cannot be purchased and preservation efforts have failed, or in “an absence of responsibility on behalf of the applicant for any neglect of maintenance that may have contributed to hardship.”

“For years, it's been hard for us to make the leap of faith and improve this structure because of the restrictions imposed by the town,” Mr. Ring wrote in an email last week. “We hope that this encourages more buyers to consider the mill, but time will tell,” he said.

The property was nominated to the list of Endangered Historic Places in 2010, but the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities voted to add it to the registry only this year.

“We hope the properties that get put onto the list will bring broad attention and public awareness to the region of Long Island,” Mr. Crowley said. “By putting these properties on the list, because we are the regional advocates for preservation, we're able to pull in a large audience to advocate for it.”

Mr. Ring, who had not known his property was nominated for the registry, said he remains optimistic about selling the property and would be open to speaking to representatives from the CPF again.

“They are very well aware of the fact that we would welcome the opportunity for them to revisit the idea of acquiring the Fordham Mill,” he said.

The Fordham Mill and the Roslyn Grist Mill in Roslyn joined the ranks of endangered sites for 2015.

“Our hope and goal during these periods is that enough attention will be brought to the two mills that happen to be the poster child for this thematic issue [of deteriorating industrial buildings],” Mr. Crowley said. “We hope that whatever happens … they find uses other than just sitting vacant.”

The Fordham Mill is the second structure in Southampton Town to be added to this list, after the Henry Rhodes House in Southampton Village was added in 2010.