Garrett Snuff Mill

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Garrett Snuff Mill, also known as the George W. Helme Company, is a historic snuff tobacco mill complex in Yorklyn, Delaware. The site covers about 17 acres and includes 14 buildings built between 1846 and 1901, most made of brick with the earliest mills in stone.

The Garrett family helped start snuff making in Delaware. Beginning in the 1700s, John Garrett I built several mills on Red Clay Creek, including a grist mill, and his descendants ran the business for generations. The company’s name changed over time as different family members took charge, eventually becoming Levi Garrett & Sons, then later William E. Garrett & Sons.

The first major snuff mill at the Yorklyn site was Mill #1, built in 1846 from stone and later rebuilt after a fire in 1858. Mill 4 followed in 1849, with Mill 2 built in 1860. The business faced a major fire in 1877 but was rebuilt within a year. A third mill, built in 1884, is the most architecturally detailed building on the site. The company was renamed W.E. Garrett & Sons in 1857 as William Garrett’s sons joined the business.

In 1895 the company was sold to three employees, and within a few years it merged with other firms to form the Atlantic Snuff Company. James Buchanan Duke’s American Tobacco Company later acquired Atlantic Snuff, and in 1911, after the breakup of the American Tobacco Company, the George W. Helme Company got the Garrett Mill.

By the mid-20th century the mill could not compete with newer equipment. Production had dropped to about 2 million pounds per year (roughly 5% of the national total) by 1945, and in 1954 the Yorklyn operation closed: 75 workers were laid off, machinery was scrapped, and the buildings were sold.

The Garrett Snuff Mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and the district was further recognized as the Garrett Snuff Mills Historic District in 1980.