The Friends of Colvin Run Mill have created a priority list for the capital improvements they hope to fund through the 2004 Park Authority Bond. The group has three projects it wants to develop at the mill over the next year, but recognizing park money will be tight in the county budget, it selected building a visitors center as the top goal.
“The visitors center is No. 1 now,” said Joe Pruden, president of the Friends of Colvin Run Mill.
Dranesville District supervisor Joan DuBois (R) recently met with Pruden to help him plan goals for the mill. “We met to prioritize needs. Park funding is going to be tight, so in these times you have to prioritize,” said DuBois.
The new visitors center would need to fit into the same 18th century time period as the rest of the mill. Pruden envisions exhibit rooms and classrooms being contained in the new building. The new center would also house office space for site staff.
The 1820 Miller’s House currently functions as office space for the six mill employees. Pruden hopes to get bond funding that would allow the group to convert the house into an educational museum that would serve as a model for how life was in Great Falls in the 1890s. Restoration at the house would reflect the life of the Millard Family, owners of the mill for the longest period.
Restoring the actual mill to be interpreted as an Oliver Evans mill is also high on the group's list but has lost the No. 1 spot. The Oliver Evans system works on a conveyor and “doesn’t require as much assistance” as the current method. It’s an operating mill now, but it doesn’t have the Evans features. Bond funding would be necessary to complete the transition.
Pruden says he is concerned about the apparent lack of bond funding and how it will affect the group’s planned improvements. It is now looking into non-government ways to attract funding.
“We are seeing what foundations we can approach for grants and looking to local sources like the Brogue Charities,” said Pruden.
The group is waiting to see the budget before actively pursuing other options.