History 1799
Paradise Mill located within the boundaries of Tuscany-Canterbury
Despite the tranquility that the Stony Run stream has now, back in the18th and 19th centuries it was home to 4 different grist mills. Mills were quite important to Baltimore and Maryland’s economy and neighborhood development at the time. Three of them ground grain to make flour, and one made chocolate. That’s quite a lot of food for this tiny stream! The 4 mills were named Paradise Mill, Union Mill, Scott’s Mill and Ensor and Fell’s Mill.
In 1799, Paradise Stone Mill sat by the stream from a mill pond south of Cold Spring Lane and West of Charles Street Avenue. Paradise Mill stood on what is now Linkwood Road a few yards North of the intersection with Stoneyford Road. The 1798 tax list called it a “thunder gust mill,” suggesting that in ordinary weather, there was not much water; only a thunderstorm could bring enough flow to make it a powerful stream.
Paradise Mill was first owned Abraham Van Bibber. It was situated near Merryman’s Lane. It was later purchased by Arnold Richurdson in 1809, who renamed it Kensington Mill, but the popular name Paradise Mill stuck with locals. Its later owners include Charles Gwinn, Larkin Reed and Robert Turner.
The Paradise Mill changed hands many times but there is no record of its eventual abandonment. All that remains of that era is a millstone marking the entrance to the Linkwood Apartments, located on the Western bank of the Stony Run.