History of Stockport
The history of Stockport is filled with tales of riverboats, railroads, entrepreneurs and heroes.
To read about Stockport's past, check out the book: "Stockport, Ohio : a compendium of historical information : "what strange-- what eccentric characters -- " / prepared for the Sesquicentennial Committee, Stockport, Ohio, by Richard Walker. The book is available at the Kate Love Simpson Library in nearby McConnelsville.
In 1839, G.W. Sanburn laid out Stockport next to Windsor Village. Later on, Stockport and Windsor Village merged to be called the Village of Stockport. The Village of Stockport was named after a town in England by Postmaster Samuel Beswick.
Besides the village post office that towers four-stories over the river community, the most prominent building in town is the Stockport Mill.
The first Stockport Mill was built in 1842. It burned a few years later.
The second Stockport Mill was built in 1849 and was used for 54 years before it burned down in 1903. The Dover Brothers built the present Stockport Mill in 1906.
By 1908, The Stockport Mill hydro-electric generator supplied electricity for 12 village street lights and the electricity for grinding Gold Bond Pastry Flour and Pride of the Valley Bread Flour.
In 1913, a great flood destroyed many of the mills and dams along the Muskingum River, but the sturdy Stockport Inn survived.
In 1928, the hydroelectric operation was shut down in the Stockport Mill when the Suburban Power Company was given the lighting contract.
In 1942, Fred James and Ray Devitt bought the Stockport Mill from the Dover heirs. They sold it to the Farm Bureau which operated it as a Landmark Mill.
In 1979, The Stockport Mill was taken over by the Robert and Jack Grove families until the Mill was auctioned off in 1997 to Laura and Randy Smith who purchased and renovated the Stockport Mill as an Inn beginning in 1998. A few years later, Dottie Singer bought the Inn.
As of 2008, the Mill's long silent turbines have been refurbished and generate enough power to light 80 homes. The residual energy produced by the turbines is sold back to the local electric company.
Across the street from the Stockport Mill Inn is the Hardware Inn of Stockport Bed and Breakfast. Built in 1851, it was a hardware store for years until the renovation in 1999.
