05/24/2026
Feldspar Mill , Toughkenamon Pa . Chester County
This is the Feldspar Mill located in Toughkenamon owned by the American Feldspar company and destroyed by fire, May 21, 1928. The man standing on the left with hands on his hips is Charles W Wagner, the mill superintendent. His daughter, Viola Wagner, lived on S. Union St. in Kennett Square.
Feldspar is the name given of a group of minerals comprising “ Oligoclase, Albite and Labradorite. “ these minerals are important, informing one of the constituents of granite, syenite, ect. And occurs abundantly in gneiss and schist in southern Chester County.
Commercial deposits are in the form of Dikes or veins of pegmatite. The veins are from 6 to 25 feet wide and the Feldspar occurs in crystals 1 inch to 1 foot long. The Feldspar most common in this section is found in deposits of microcline. Feldspar is used in the making of China and porcelain to control the fusion point of the mix, in scouring soap, and making Emery wheels and in certain kinds of glass and enamel wear. The finer grade was used in the making of false teeth, the coarse grade was used for poultry grit.
The quarrying of feldspar began in southern Chester County about 1890, but it was not until about 1900 that the United States geological survey began to get fairly complete figures on feldspar production.
This showed the output in Pennsylvania in the first 20 years of this century was about 265,000 tons and brought the producers and local grinding mill over $1,990,000, most of this being in southern Chester County.
The average annual production during these years was about 13,000 tons and the annual income about $100,000. All that the ambitious farmers had to do in this section to set themselves up in the feldspar business was to locate an outcropping of feldspar on their farm and start digging. The feldspar was so decomposed and granular that a pick, shovel and wheelbarrow were the only tools needed. It was piled in the open to let the rain wash off the dirt, and then hauled by wagon to the local grinding mill. This open pit method was generally used; however, there were three locations, Brandywine Summit, Chatham and Avondale, where underground mining was done by drifts.
Within a radius of 3 miles of Avondale feldspar was dug at eight locations : on the Lewis Good farm ( on the West branch of the white clay Creek) 250 yards north of the public school in Avondale,spar was dug from a large body of decomposed pegmatite.
At one time some Italians drove a tunnel 30 or 40 feet in this d**e all in soft spar. In 1898 this Quarry was operated by Eugene Monagan and produced between six and 7 tons of spar per day during that year. At the same time, Mr. Monahan operated another Quarry 1/2 mile north of Avondale from which he shipped 100 tons per month.
In 1890 on the land of Moses B. Carpenter one and a half miles north east of Avondale, the Pennsylvania Feldspar company of Philadelphia did considerable excavation. In one of these pits, there was a shaft 80 feet deep with a hoisting engine, rails, and cars used in the operation. A large quantity of number one Spar was produced from this deposit and some of the selected spar was sold by the barrel to makers of false teeth.
3/4 of a mile north of Chatham on land owned by W. Harry LeFevre farm was a spa pit 100 x 120‘ and 30 feet deep. In 1907 a tunnel was driven in this pit 12 feet high, 20 to 25 feet wide and 40 feet long.
On the farm of J. M. Thompson, 1 mile north of Avondale and 200 yards north of the locust Grove schoolhouse, were several pits. Many were 20 feet in diameter and one pit was said to be 60 feet deep. They were operated in 1898 by J. M. Thompson for the Eureka mining and operating company of Trenton New Jersey.
In 1899 on the Hicks farm, one and a half miles north of Avondale four Pits of spar were opened and the rock was so deeply weathered that it could be dug with picks and shovels. Four large feldspar were operated on the farm of Truman Cooper located one and a half miles south of Avondale. Much quartz was found in these pits, it being yellowish in color and in lumps a foot in diameter. When fused to a temperature of 1280°, it formed a semi transparent glass of a faint pink color. 1 mile north Northwest of Avondale at the Feldspar Quarry of Robert R. Jacob’s on the Pomeroy and Newark railroad at Bakers station large quantities of number two grade spar word dug and shipped to the linoleum factory. On the Albert Walker Farm 1 mile east of Mendenhall two sizable quarries were opened and large lumps of clear microline or dental spar were obtained. On the Rigby farm at Mendenhall a small pit was also in operation. On the Michael Lafferty farm, south of Kaolin , a small pit was opened from 1915 to 1926. This site is now owned by Saint Anthony’s church of Wilmington.
All of these producers of crude spar brought their product to the one grinding mill in the community located in Toughkenamon. It was situated on the south side of the Pennsylvania railroad track just opposite the lumber and feed mill owned by H. A. Mendenhall. It was a large 2 1/2 story Stone building owned by Robert and Isabelle Jacobs and operated under the name of “ American Feldspar Company “ . The superintendent in charge of the mill was Charles W. Wagner of Toughkenamon.
The final blow that wrecked the industry came on May 21, 1928, when fire starting in the boiler room of the Feldspar mill in Toughkenamon destroyed the large Stone structure. This 2 1/2 story 90 x 45‘ building was valued at $65,000. At the height of the conflagration flames leaked across the railroad track and ignited the lumber and feed mill of H. A. Mendenhall burning it to the ground.
Without a mill to grind the spar , this brought to a sudden and dramatic and to the feldspar industry, which had been a source of income to this community for 40 years.
