FROM THE ARCHIVES

By Guy Davis, Archivist and Collection Curator

One of the oldest buildings on campus is the Saint Vincent Gristmill. Designed by local millwright George Washington Bollinger, the structure was constructed in 1854 with additional segments added in 1855 and 1883. Unlike other buildings on the Saint Vincent campus, the Gristmill was constructed of wood and stone with brick making up the foundation and chimney. In use for well over 100 years, the mill stones would grind the wheat gathered from the Saint Vincent farmland into flour. The flour would then be used by the Benedictine brothers and sisters to make the bread that would feed the residents of the College, Monastery, and Prep School. Additional loaves would be sold to the public.

Operation of the Gristmill continued unabated until the fire of 1963 destroyed the large ovens on campus that were used to bake the Saint Vincent bread. At that point, the mill was reduced to occasional use. By 1976, farming operations at Saint Vincent ceased, and the Gristmill’s physical plant began to deteriorate rapidly. A committee was formed in 1986 to determine if funding might be available to save the structure. The situation looked bleak, and the possibility that the historic building would likely be razed seemed inevitable.

Eventually, the Ad Hoc Committee on the Gristmill and Surrounding Area recommended “that the Gristmill be closed and dismantled by December 31, 1994.” Taking exception to that recommendation, today’s president of Saint Vincent College, Father Paul Taylor, presented to then-Archabbot Douglas Nowicki a strategic plan to save the mill. Several grants from the Allegheny Foundation, chaired by Richard M. Scaife, and from the Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation gave some hope that the historic building might yet be saved. A third grant from the Pennsylvania Heritage Parks Program combined with the two other grants helped initiate the restoration and renewal of the mill.

The old Gristmill remains not only as a symbol of the vision, hard work, and determination of the Benedictine monks who settled here to raise and feed a community, but as an active, functioning resource in today’s world. The massive mill stones still grind wheat into the flour needed by Brother Angelo Lichtenstein and his team of monks for the bread, hot cross buns, and other food products that they bake in Saint Vincent’s kitchens. A general store, founded by Father Philip Kanfush, O.S.B., is also located within the mill and is operated by Brother Andre, O.S.B., and several volunteers. Products at the store include flour, jams, crafts, and many other items. The mill also provides a learning center for the students of the Bearcat B.E.S.T. program: the quiet, safe spaces within the mill allow for group instruction, practice of independent living skills, use of kitchen and laundry facilities, and preparation for vocational internships. The students and staff not only find peace and harmony within the walls of the old mill, but also opportunity.

Once slated for demolition, today the historic Saint Vincent Gristmill has a renewed purpose—not only by providing a key ingredient needed for the raising of freshly-baked bread in the Saint Vincent ovens, but also space needed for the raising of the skill levels and hopes of a new generation of students. ♦

Emma Lee

Fred Rogers I

One week before the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Fred M. Rogers Center building, Dana Winters was packing up her dorm room. Saint Vincent College had been her home for four years, intertwining with the earliest years of the establishment of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media. The next nine years would see Dana through a graduate program in student development, work with parents navigating career shifts during the 2008 recession, support of hundreds of inmates seeking education and opportunity upon their release, a Ph.D. in sociology and education policy, and evaluation of early childhood systems. At the end of nearly a decade of experience across education and family-facing systems, she found her way back to Saint Vincent. In her first role as Research Associate at the Fred Rogers Center, Dr. Winters was able to marry her understanding of the vast pressures impacting families and educators with Fred Rogers’ deep and simple approach to supporting children and the adults who love and care for them.

Today, 20 years after the launch of Fred’s ongoing work out of Latrobe and Dana’s days as an undergraduate at Saint Vincent College, Dr. Winters is the Rita McGinley Executive Director of the newly-named Fred Rogers Institute (FRI). She has worked across all initiatives and facets of the organization, and in this new role, she’s prepared to ensure Fred’s legacy carries forward into the coming decades.