In “Atlanta and Environs,” Franklin Garrett theorized more people know of Judge Clark Howell’s mill than ever “made use of its facilities.” That is because of Howell Mill Road, which takes its name from the historic mill.

Judge Clark Howell had served in Atlanta’s young city council but moved out from the city in 1852, when he purchased land along Peachtree Creek and established his mills. One was a grist mill, the other a sash-sawmill. Grist is simply grain that has been separated from the chaff, but it can also be grain that has been ground in a mill and used to make flour or corn meal. A sash-sawmill is a particular type of saw used in the cutting of wood. Rather than a circular or band blade, a sash saw has vertical blades that move up and down. It takes its name from the apparatus which holds it together, which looks a bit like a window sash.

The mills were located about 1,000 yards to the west of the bridge on Howell Mill Road spanning the creek. They were on the northern bank of the creek in a low-lying area. They were twice destroyed by fire, the final time in 1879 when they were not rebuilt. Judge Clark Howell passed away just three years later at the age of 71.

The Howell’s mill became the center of the community when it became a United States Post Office in 1876. Howell served as the first post master. He earned the title “judge” for his service on the Fulton County Inferior Court.

Thomas Moore had problems of a combustable nature as well. His grist mill burned to the ground in 1861, but was rebuilt that same year. Moore’s mill was also on Peachtree Creek just above the confluence with Nancy Creek. He purchased the land around the Bolton neighbor in 1850 and built his mill in 1854. It operated until 1901, when it ceased operations because of its owner’s generosity it would seem.

In 1892, Moore donated the right of way to the city of Atlanta for a water plant. Just nine years later his mill was deemed “untenable” as a result of waste water from the city’s sewage disposal system.

The circumstances that surrounded the death of Thomas Moore also pointed to Atlanta’s continuing growth. On April 2, 1914 he was thrown from his buggy when an interurban car – think of a tram on the railroad tracks – startled his horse. He died from injuries sustained in the fall.