YorksPast

A few days ago some forgotten notes were discovered, which were taken at a Hellam Firehouse talk. They contain information concerning two Hellam Township distillery locations. Original research in this post provides expanded details about the Hiestand Distillery (1851-1867) at the South Broad Street location, and the Valley Acres Road location was the site of the Hellam Distilling Company (1890-1908) and the New Hellam Distilling Company (1911-1923).

Summarizing my firehouse talk notes: I already knew basic details about the Hiestand Distillery from explorations made after initially seeing the drawing of the Abraham S. Hiestand residence, gristmill and distillery complex, as featured on Shearer’s 1860 Map of York County. I had forgotten about the comment Abraham Hiestand supposedly was in the distillery moments before it blew up; that assertion alone demanded further research. I also learned near the end of the century, the most significant Hellam distillery location was established along Kreutz Creek, just south of Valley Acres Road.

After completing a Business Research Request last week, for the York County History Center, a memory was triggered of where I misplaced the notes taken at the Hellam Firehouse talk. For that business request, I recalled Grant Voaden did extensive research on the Hiestand complex (File GV-5) and noticed Voaden’s next file was labeled Stoner Distillery (File GV-6); which is at the Valley Acres Road mill location along Kreutz Creek between Hiestand’s Mill and the mill upstream along Libhart Mill Road. Grant Voaden undertook very little research at the Stoner location because from interviews he viewed it as primarily a distillery site, and he was mainly interested in documenting mills.

Hiestand Distillery (1851-1867)

Shearer’s 1860 Map of York County includes the following drawing showing a southward looking view of the gristmill, residence, distillery and barn complex of Abraham S. Hiestand in Hellam Township, York County, PA. At the extreme left side, a covered bridge stands where the present Kreutz Creek bridge carries Board Street traffic in Hallam Borough. Immediately behind the residence were railroad tracks that extended from York to Wrightsville. If one looks closely, between the mill and residence, the front of a steam locomotive is drawn with smoke rising from the smokestack. The brick residence and stone mill remain standing today, operating as Stone Mill Inn at 305 South Broad Street, Hallam, PA.

Grant Voaden’s research (File GV-5) indicated the deed search of the Abraham A. Hiestand distillery site goes back to the 1736 ownership of Martin Shultz. On his land grant of 226 acres, The Pennsylvania Archives, 1st Series, Volume 1, page 534 confirms there was a house on the tract March 17, 1736 and that there was a cask of liquor there of 80 gallons. Grant Voaden concluded, this indicates they were operating a still and a mill was there to grind the mash.

Distilling was an early prevalent industry in colonial times, with many farms having a still, however most only for personal consumption. In 1788, seventeen still sites were being operated in Hellam Township as a business, however after the federal government stepped in and put a high tax upon liquor, those numbers dropped. By 1850 there were four distillery businesses in Hellam Township: the Hiestand site, owned by Abraham S. Hiestand’s father John, and distilleries operated by Samuel Ruby, John Dietz and Jacob Garber.

It was in 1848 that John Hiestand acquired the property with stone gristmill, brick mansion, distillery and other buildings from John H. Hershey. Mercantile Tax records list his son Abraham as a distiller, as early as 1851. Those Hiestand operations expand during the 1850s until it is the last remaining of the early distillery businesses in Hellam Township. After John and Elizabeth Hiestand sell the property to Abraham Hiestand in 1859, the distillery is branded as the Willow Grove Distillery, selling the celebrated Pure Old Rye Whiskey.

Distillery locations on Shearer’s 1860 Map

The following 1860 Shearer’s Map segment of York County focuses on the region in Hellam Township that includes the final two distillery sites in Hellam Township. “A” points to the location of Abraham S. Hiestand’s complex, with his residence and gristmill east of the road and his distillery on the west side of the road, that distillery is 0.4-miles south of the Hellam Post Office. “B” points to the Grist Mill site of John Stoner, which will become a distillery location in 1890; that site is 0.8-miles south of the Hellam Post Office. The blue annotations placed on the map provide a few of the present road names.

Explosion destroys Hiestand Distillery

On Monday afternoon December 30, 1867, a terrible explosion at the Abraham S. Hiestand Distillery instantly killed the distiller Henry Fake. Mr. Fake was in the lower part of the building when the boiler exploded. He leaves a wife and two children. Distillery owner Abraham Hiestand, in company with Henry Meyers, the Federal Revenue Office, and some others, left the Distillery only a few minutes before the accident occurred. They had been standing immediately in front of the boiler conversing.

Per the York Democratic Press of January 3, 1868, “The concussion caused by the explosion was so terrible, that the building and all the machinery is a complete wreck—only one of the gable end walls of the building was left standing—while the fragments of the other parts of it, together with a portion of the machinery, were hurled in every direction, to the distance of thirty to forty yards.” Although the distillery building was rebuilt as a stone structure, it appears the distillery was never put back in operation. There are no Hellam Township distillery listings in Mercantile Tax records from 1868 until 1890, when the Hellam Distilling Company started operating at the Stoner Mill site.

Distillery locations on Beach Nichols 1876 Atlas

The following Beach Nichols 1876 Atlas segment of York County focuses on the region in Hellam Township that includes the final two distillery sites in Hellam Township. “A” points to the former Abraham S. Hiestand’s complex, now owned by Christian S. Stoner. “B” is John Stoner’s complex of gristmill and lime kiln; with his lime stone quarry on the southern part of his property.

Milling business augmented by Processing Limestone

In 1869, Abraham S. Hiestand and his wife Anne, sold the Hiestand Mill complex to his brother John S. Hiestand, who in turn sold the complex to Christian S. Stoner in 1871. Christian S. Stoner, at site “A” is a younger cousin to John Stoner, at site “B.” Christian appears to have taken the lead from John in getting into the limestone business, which had become a lucrative business for John Stoner.

Christian S. Stoner died in December 1876. His debts were much more than his assets, so the Court ordered the real estate to be sold at public auction in 1877. The next owners of the Hiestand Mill complex were Zachariah K. Loucks and George D. Ebert.

Processed limestone is not only sold to farmers for fertilizing their fields, it is also sold as construction materials for whitewashing and for plastering buildings. The raw limestone is dug from lime stone quarries and burnt in upright shaft kilns, to produce the processed limestone. John Stoner started with one lime kiln and added more as his business grew. Therefore the additional ‘J. Stoner’ structures pointed out on the 1876 Atlas may be indicative of those additional lime kilns on his property.

Property location of the Hellam Distilling Company

John Stoner acquired 168-acres surrounding site “B” in 1856. John Stoner was married to Sarah Landes. The land was purchased from Sarah’s parents Samuel and Catharine Landes.

With increased competition in the limestone trade making that business less profitable, John Stoner sold a 68-acre piece of his 168-acre property in 1876 to an uncle, David Stoner. Those 68-acres included the mill site along with the limestone quarry and kilns. In 1881, David Stoner and his wife Rebecca, sold the 68-acre property to son Leander S. Stoner and son-in-law Henry Quickel, who was married to their daughter Annie.

In 1883, Leander S. Stoner acquired full ownership of the 68-acre property, by buying out Henry and Annie Quickel for $9,000. York County Deed Book 8W, Page 260 records that transaction and includes the deed string back to John Stoner. It is on that property that Leander S. Stoner establishes the Hellam Distilling Company in 1890.

The following illustration combines two early high-resolution topographic maps to cover the same Hellam Township region featured on the 1860 Map and the 1876 Atlas. “A’ points to the former Hiestand complex, which from 1922 to 1963 was operated by Elton Sprenkle as Willow Grove Mill. “B” indicates the viewpoint of a 1923 distillery complex photo provided later in this post, and the tan shaded region locates the 68-acre property owned by Leander S. Stoner where he established the Hellam Distilling Company in 1890.

Startup of the Hellam Distilling Company

Leander S. Stoner returns a focus to revive the utilization of the gristmill on his property. Articles appeared in local newspapers in April and May of 1890, indicating “L. S. Stoner is converting his gristmill at Hellam into a distillery,” and that “in the course of a few weeks, distill pure rye whiskey.”

Leander S. Stoner called his new business Hellam Distilling Company, and he decided to sell under the label Crystal Springs Pure Rye Whiskey. It was a private family business, where Leander Stoner was the president and primary investor, however financial support, and operational assistance, came from his younger brother Benjamin Stoner and brother-in-law Henry Quickel. John Tschopp was among others that had some hand in the business.

As with most whiskey distillers in the United States in the late 1800s, Leander Stoner made use of the benefits provided by having a bonded warehouse, which was allowed under an Internal Revenue Act of 1868. Prior to that act, it was primarily whiskey distillers that faced severe cash-flow problems because the federal government demanded excise taxes immediately following distillation. However because whiskey is usually sold years after it has matured in a barrel, this meant distillers were paying steep tax liabilities long before they could actually sell the finished product.

To remedy this, the 1868 Act lowered the excise tax rate and introduced the bonding system where distillers could store their barrels in a federally approved, government-supervised warehouse to delay tax payments. The government placed its own locks on the warehouses and government agents, known as storekeepers or gaugers, were assigned to monitor the Bonded Warehouses, cataloging every barrel’s volume and serial number. Taxes only became due when the whiskey was pulled out of the warehouse for sale.

Leander Stoner decided to start Hellam Distillery operations using a “free” warehouse, in which barrels of whiskey stored all had their excise taxes already paid immediately following distillation. That building was a 32×34 feet, wood frame, iron-sheated warehouse and sat along the road, located just west of the Still House. After the bonded warehouse was built this building served as auxiliary storage space, and continued as the place where the bottling of Crystal Springs Pure Rye Whiskey took place.

South of the “free” warehouse, the Hellam Distilling Company constructed a 19-feet tall, 30×40 feet, wood framed, iron-sheated bonded warehouse. It was capable of storing 1,000 barrels. Once the bonded warehouse was complete, the distillery was assigned number 26, in the 9th Federal Revenue District in Pennsylvania. Most of the 9th District was assigned to Lancaster County, however that district was also responsible for distilleries with bonded warehouses in other Pennsylvania counties. During the initial years of operation, most of the whiskey produced by the Hellam Distilling Company went directly into the bonded warehouse to age for several years.

The following June 2, 1891 receipt is for one barrel of Crystal Springs Whiskey, Serial Number 342, Distilled April 17, 1891 and is signed by Hellam Distilling Co. Pres. L. S. Stoner. Leander S. Stoner established this distillery in 1890, located along the west side of Kreutz Creek, and south of Valley Acres Road in Hellam Township, York County, PA.

The former 38×38 feet, wood framed, Gristmill on the property was converted into Hellam Distilling Company’s boiler room and engine house, to which a smokestack was added. It contained a 30 HP coal-fired boiler, and a 30 HP horizontal steam engine, with line-shaft power augmented by a water turbine in the cellar. The water-wheel that was originally on the west side of the gristmill was removed. The head-race flowed northward from a mill dam on Kreutz Creek into the water turbine, and the tale race exited under the road, rejoining Kreutz Creek further north near the boundary of the property at the railroad.

Attached to the west side of the former Gristmill was the new three-story, 30×60 feet, wood framed Still House. The first floor contained fermenting tubs and copper stills, while second floor contained mash tubs, a yeast room, and general storage. And the upper floor was for grain processing and grain storage. Attached to the southwest corner of the Still House was a water tower with hot water and cold water tanks.

Hellam Distilling Company has new owners in 1905

A group of investors purchased the Hellam Distilling Company from the Stoner Family in 1905. The new owners were: Joseph Miller, Glen Rock; Allen M. Seitz, Glen Rock; Wolf Miller, Baltimore, Md.; John Wise, Larue, and Charles Allison, Larue. A Pennsylvania charter was granted, incorporating the Hellam Distilling Company on September 27, 1905. The $25,000 capitalization by five shareholders, which became the directors of the company, was equally $5,000 from each investor.

Leander S. Stoner, and his wife Amanda, sold the 1.6-acre parcel, fronting 186 feet on a public road, with improvements, i.e. the Hellam Distilling Company buildings, to Joseph Miller on July 25, 1905 for $12,000. Then on September 29, 1905, Joseph Miller transferred that property ownership to the Hellam Distilling Company, per York County Deed Book 14J, Page 647.

The new owners made improvements that increased whiskey production by a factor of four when the new plant became fully operational in the Fall of 1906. They added a 150 HP boiler and expanded the Still House with additional one-story rooms on the south side. They replaced much of the used equipment that the Stoner Family had been using, with new distilling equipment and copper stills. They updated grain processing on the third floor of the still house by replacing mill stones with roller mills. They also constructed a massive 5-story, 61×100 feet, brick bonded warehouse, located just south of the existing wood framed bonded warehouse. The new brick warehouse was capable of storing 9,500 barrels and was equipped for steam heating to prevent the barrels from getting too cold during winter months. The Hellam Distilling Company took out a $50,000 mortgage, which ballooned to $75,000 to make these improvements.

Rapid expansion and modernization created disagreements

As a result of disagreements in how the Hellam Distilling Company was being operated and debts not being paid, an application for receivership was made by director Wolf Miller, and creditors Charles H. Stark and Jacob L. Innerst. To which on December 18, 1907, Judge Bittenger appointed director Allen M. Seitz as receiver for the Hellam Distilling Company as it continued to operate until Mr. Seitz proposed a plan of action that the Court approved. Total liabilities were $52,000 and there were 728 barrels of whiskey appraised at $14,560 in possession by the company.

On February 17, 1908 Allen M. Seitz filed a petition with the Court, asking for an order of public sale of all the property of the Hellam Distilling Company. Judge Bittenger granted the petition on March 3, 1908 and the upset price was fixed by the court at $35,000.

The first public sale was on April 7, 1908, however the $35,000 threshold was not achieved. Before the next sale, Judge Bittenger reduced the upset price to $25,000 and allowed the sale of the whiskey.

At the public sale on July 1, 1908, the property was bid up to $22,850 and then withdrawn, however all the whiskey was sold. A lien by the government for unpaid taxes, amounting to $44,874 from whiskey removed from the bonded warehouse, and additional legal cases from creditors complicated matters, resulting in matters of the Hellam Distilling Comapny tied up in the Courts for several years.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of May 1908

The following is a May 1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the Hellam Distilling Company complex in Hellam Township. At the time the plant is not in operation since it in the hands of a Receiver, due to ongoing litigation. The two-story brick (i.e. red) house in the low part of the map is the farmhouse for the 66.4-acre farm surrounding most sides of the 1.6-acre distillery property. Leander S. Stoner owned that farm until 1935.

The New Hellam Distilling Company

Ultimately a bid by Jacob Beitzel, of York City, was upheld for the Hellam Distilling Company assets. He recruited four additional investors to charter the New Hellam Distilling Company. Ownership returned to the distillery roots, with the inclusion of Jacob’s son George O. Beitzel, Leander S. Stoner and his brother Benjamin Stoner, and Charles E. Miller. Governor Tener approved the Charter for the New Hellam Distilling Company on February 8, 1911, with a capital stock of $30,000.

Jacob Beitzel is owner of the Beitzel lumber planing mill in York City. George O. Beitzel is president of the Farmers State Bank in Hallam. Leander S. Stoner and Benjamin Stoner are Hellam Township farmers and businessmen, in addition to being two of the initial founders of the distillery. And Charles E. Miller is a brick manufacturer in York City.

The board of directors selected a new brand name: York Valley Pure Rye Whiskey. The following label for their bottled whiskey was seen on an online Auction site.

The new ownership wasted little time in producing record results. For the year 1912, The Gazette of February 1, 1913 reported “The distillers of the county had the greatest year in their history. The newly organized New Hellam Distilling Company made 1,132 barrels of ardent spirits, while 1,179 barrels of spirits were made at the William Foust distillery.”

The following October 1913 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the New Hellam Distilling Company complex in Hellam Township contains an interesting note: capacity is 103 bushels per day, and 4.35 gallons yield per bushel. With 53 gallons the standard for a whiskey barrel, the result is 8.5 barrels of whiskey per day. In producing 1,132 barrels during 1912, the distillery required 133 production days.

In February 1914, Leander S. Stoner retired from the New Hellam Distilling Company, having served as director, manager and treasurer during the initial three years since the re-activation of the distillery.

Beginning in 1915 the directors of the distillery made the decision to operate the still house with one long shut down and at least three extended shut down periods each year, however to continue selling year-round whiskey from their well stocked bonded warehouse. The company continued in that operating mode for years; evidently a plan to restrict supply in order to keep the price up for their high-demand whiskey.

Distillery Completely Destroyed by Flames

The Gazette and Daily front page headlines for December 19, 1922 is “Fire Causes $30,000 Loss at New Hellam Distillery Plant.” In a fire that started shortly after 4 o’clock in the afternoon on December 18, the Still House and all of the wood frame buildings attached to it were destroyed. The brick bonded warehouse and a smaller frame warehouse, containing about 725 barrels of whiskey, valued at about $750,000. were saved.

The directors immediately had a small temporary building, with smokestack, constructed to house a small boiler to supply steam to the heating system in the brick bonded warehouse. During very cold winter weather, that system was activated to prevent the filled whiskey barrels temperature from dropping too low. If any water moisture collecting on the stored oak barrels freezes, the ice could cause the barrels to leak whiskey.

Three-quarter of a million dollars of whiskey at a fire site in the rural countryside was too much of a temptation for some individuals. First there was an attempted raid on the place at night on January 11, 2023, and then the following Thursday, January 18, in daylight, another raid was attempted. Arrests of a number of local and Baltimore men followed the first attempt, and on the second attempt several persons connected with the distillery and a number of citizens of Philadelphia were arrested for the alleged offense. On February 13, charges were made against another man accused of being a party to the first attempted raid. Early in the inspection of the bonded warehouse, a government inspector located at least twenty empty whiskey barrels.

Those were some of the illicit activities summarized in the caption of the following photo appearing in The Gazette and Daily of February 14, 1923. It is a southward looking view of the Plant of the New Hellam Distilling Company fronting Valley Acres Road nearly two months after a fire destroyed the Still House. At the left side is the small temporary boiler building, with chimney. In the center are the bonded warehouses, and at the right side is the barn and outbuilding on Leander Stoner’s farm.

New Hellam Distilling Company ceases in 1923

After the ownership of the property of the New Hellam Distilling Company was transferred to New Hellam Estates, a corporation under the laws of New York State, the last act of the New Hellam Distilling Company was to sell their remaining whiskey.

Notices were printed in newspapers and mailed to owners of whiskey certificates for barrels stored in the New Hellam Distilling Company warehouses. If owners did not pay the storage fees and taxes, their whiskey would be sold at public sale. That public sale took place on June 15, 1923. It was the final act of the New Hellam Distilling Company.

What remains of the New Hellam Distilling Company?

The five-story brick warehouse survived the longest, as seen in the following January 1939 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map; where that warehouse is shown in the upper right. The remainder of the map shows Leander Stoner’s barn, farm outbuildings, and brick farmhouse.

Aerial photos show that large warehouse still standing as late as 1947, however it is gone by 1957. Does anybody care to share photos or other memorabilia of the last Hellam Township distilleries?

Click on this LINK for a yorkblog.com Full View of the photos and illustrations in this post.

Links to related posts include:

Pfeiffer’s Brewery in York and Spring Garden Township

Exploring the Stone Still House of Springettsbury