MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — One of the oldest Morgantown area landmarks could be accepted by the city to be managed by the Morgantown History Museum.

The Morgantown City Council agreed to move a proposal that would accept the Easton Roller Mill property into city possession to a future council agenda as part of the March committee of the whole on Tuesday. The decision to further consider the land transfer was agreed upon by the council after a presentation by the Monongalia Historical Society and the Morgantown History Museum, where they discussed the terms of the proposal that was requested due to the impending dissolvement of the local group.

“It will be the largest acquisition the museum has ever made, I do believe, into our collection (if the transfer is accepted by the city),” said Morgantown History Museum Project Manager Jason Burns. “In addition to the mill, there’s a plot of land that comes with it, which can be used as an event space,” he said.

The agreement, if it were to move forward, would sign the Easton Roller Mill and the just-under-a-quarter-acre of property encompassing the deed over to the City of Morgantown via the Morgantown History Museum. Due to the impending dissolvement of the Monongalia Historical Society, the city will also be granted $27,000, which will then be allocated to the museum organization to support some upkeep renovations to the mill that has been a part of the National Register of Historical Places since 1976. With over a hundred years of Morgantown-based historical artifacts as part of the transfer of the Easton Roller Mill, Burns hopes the city will move forward with the proposal.

“There are other historical artifacts within the inside of the mill itself,” said Burns. “Ones that come to mind are the four wooden clock faces that were once on the old courthouse clock tower, along with other artifacts from the past of Monongalia County’s history,” he said.

According to Burns and representatives of the Monongalia Historical Society in attendance Tuesday night, the transfer was originally requested by the MHS back in August 2024. This was requested based on the group’s lack of meetings since the COVID-19 pandemic (there were reportedly zero meetings since lockdowns were issued in 2020) added to steadily declining participation numbers in spring and summer programming at the Easton Roller Mill, which has hosted events like Mill Day and regular tours since the 1980s. With a desire to see those activities continue, representatives on hand to speak to the council encouraged the city to accept the transfer to the Morgantown History Museum.

“Over the years we’ve been very active, but COVID hit us really hard,” said Monongalia Historical Society Treasurer Dick Walters, who addressed the council Tuesday night. “Because we had four different meetings a week with speakers and we couldn’t do that, and of course, our clientele and the membership have been getting older, so it’s been difficult,” he said.

While no action was taken on Tuesday, the majority of the council appeared to have been vocally supportive of the potential in having the Easton Roller Mill property. This is despite the property not actually being located within Morgantown city limits, an issue the Kay, Casto, and Chaney attorney representing the city, Ryan Simonton, stated shouldn’t be complicated with the Monongalia Historical Society requesting the city to take over all aspects of the property. With representatives of the Morgantown History Museum and the MHS on board to have the historic landmark given over to the city, the hope for many involved is that the transfer is eventually given full support by the council in the coming weeks.

“I didn’t know that these existed, and this looks like some really great pieces of Morgantown history, so I’m appreciative of that,” said Morgantown City Councilor Brian Butcher, openly considering supporting the transfer during the committee of the whole Tuesday.

The Easton Roller Mill was completed by Philadelphia carpenter Henry Mack in 1867 on behalf of Henry Koontz. The property passed through ownership a number of times before Estella Ley Pickenpaugh willed the mill to the Monongalia Historical Society around 1980.