Jacob Casho Machine Company
(As the name implies, the Casho Co. Mill was not a grist mill,
however, the road it was near is now called Casho Mill Road, so I will include it. Besides, a machine shop really is a mill, and it was water powered. Good enough for me.)
A lot of the following text is straight out of Thomas Scharf's 1888 "History of Delaware".
I modified, or added to, some passages to better fit this posting.
Pictures of these old mills are very often hard to come by. I've searched far and wide for Delaware mill pictures, with little success. The Delaware Public Archives has quite a few, but there were a great many more that existed. Just in White Clay Creek hundred, there were at least eleven, and likely more.
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In 1832 John Macbeth conveyed to his son Alexander a tract of land, on the Christiana Creek, on which was a saw-mill. In 1834 William Johnson became the owner of the mill, and while it was in his possession he sawed a large quantity of timber. In 1853 he entered into partnership with Jacob Casho and George A. Casho. The business was extended, and in connection with the saw-mill they erected a manufactory of farming implements. For three years they conducted the business, and then admitted C.W. Blandy & Brother into the partnership. In 1857 George A. Casho withdrew, and two years later William Johnson sold his interest to the remaining partners. In 1861 the partnership was dissolved, and Jacob Casho became sole owner. Two years later a partnership was formed between him and Hudson Steele which lasted until 1865, when William Reynolds bought Mr. Steele’s interest. The firm was then known as Casho Reynolds & Company. A year later Walter E. Turner succeeded Mr. Reynolds, and the business was conducted under the name of Casho & Company until 1872.
In 1872 Casho & Company was incorporated as "The Casho Machine Company".
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During 1882 new buildings were erected, and a thirty horse-power engine procured to be used in connection with the water-power. In 1888 the company occupied four buildings for manufacturing, and employed thirty men. They manufactured wagon-axles, wool-washing machinery and agricultural implements and the capacity of the factory was $75,000 worth of machinery per year.
But in 1893, a financial panic scared off buyers.
A financial panic in May 1893 led the United States into the worst economic depression it had experienced up to that point in its history. Following the collapse of several Wall Street brokerage houses, over 600 banks and 16,000 businesses failed by the end of the year. National unemployment reached an estimated 20 percent in the first year of the crisis, and only a few cities managed to provide relief of any kind. * * * * *source - encyclopedia.com
By November 15th, 1894 the Casho Machine Company was seized and sold to the highest bidder by Sheriff Peirce Gould.
Where was the Casho Machine Company? Traveling SW from Newark on the Elkton Road. Just past Casho Mill Road (The one with the new "clankers") there's a bridge across Christina Creek. On the Elkton side of the creek is the Rittenhouse Trail. Follow it upstream about a third of a mile and the long-gone mill was right about there.
