| Vallejo Flour Mill | |
|---|---|
 1856 Vallejo Flour Mill foundation (looking northwest, August 1940)[1] | |
| Location | Vallejo Flour Mill Historic Park, Niles Canyon Rd and Mission Blvd, Fremont, California |
| Coordinates | 37°34′41″N 121°58′10″W / 37.57804°N 121.96933°W |
| Built | 1856 |
| Architect | José de Jesús Vallejo |
| Reference no. | 46 |
  Location of Vallejo Flour Mill in California | |
The first Vallejo Flour Mill, in the Niles district of Fremont, California, was built in 1841 by José de Jesús Vallejo (1798–1882), elder brother of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, on his Rancho Arroyo de la Alameda, along with a dam and aqueduct to power it.[2]: 10–12 The Flour Mill was located at the mouth of Niles Canyon, then called Alameda Cañon, which served as the major course of Alameda Creek.[3] A second Flour Mill was built in 1856, the stone foundation of which may still be seen today.[1]
The ruins of the Vallejo Flour Mill is located at the northeast corner of Niles Canyon Road (State Route 84) and Mission Boulevard (State Route 238) in Vallejo Mill Historical Park. In 1932, it was designated a California Historical Landmark (#46).[4][5]
A watercolor painting of the 1856 Flour Mill, done by Carmelita Vallejo, J & J Vallejo's daughter then finishing her studies at the San Jose Notre Dame Academy, showed several buildings surrounding a three-story Flour Mill building with a large wooden wheel on the north side. According to the Alameda County Gazette (January 1857), the wheel was the overshot design, 30 feet in diameter and 8 feet broad, and the millstone was 4 feet in diameter. The Flour Mill cost $5,000 and had a capacity of 150 barrels of flour a day.[2]: 12
In 1909, the 1841 adobe mill was torn down to make way for a wye-switch built by Southern Pacific Railroad.[6]
- ^ a b Lungers, Sandy. "Vallejo Mill and Environs: January 5, 2011". Sandy's Fremont Ramblings. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ^ a b Holmes, Philip; Singleton, Jill M. (2004). Niles, Fremont. San Francisco, CA: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-2912-5.
- ^ Mosier, Page; Mosier, Dan (1986). Alameda County Place Names. Fremont, California: Mines Road Books.
- ^ "Vallejo Flour Mill". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
- ^ Cain, Julie (May 3, 2010). "Niles - Vallejo's Mill (Take Two)". Niles - Home, Sweet Home! blogspot. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
- ^ "HISTORIC LAND MARK MUST GO". cdnc.ucr.edu. Stockton Independent, 21 October 1909. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
The old Vallejo mill, built here by Don J. J. Vallejo, brother of General Vallejo, in 1841, will be torn down to make room for an extension of a Y-switch to be built by the Southern Pacific railroad.