Lorillard Snuff Mill

2855 Bronx Park East | Bronx Park | built 1984

Open on the map6 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1792

    The Lorillard brothers move their tobacco works to a Bronx River mill site

    The Lorillard brothers moved their main factory out of New York City to the Bronx River countryside. There they bought a grist mill along with its dam, water rights, outbuildings and fifty acres. About 1800 they replaced that older mill on this site with a larger one of native fieldstone.

    “In 1792, the Lorillard brothers moved their main factory north of New York City to the country on the Bronx River where they bought a grist mill…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1840

    The Lorillard Snuff Mill rises in local schist beside the Bronx River

    Dating to around 1840, the mill went up beside the Bronx River to add to an earlier building used for the same work. Its walls are schist quarried nearby. It is described as the oldest tobacco manufacturing building still standing in the United States.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1884

    New York City buys the Lorillard land and turns the snuff mill into a carpentry shop

    The Lorillard family firm ran the mill until about 1870, when it moved to a new plant in New Jersey. In 1884 the city acquired 661 acres of the family's Bronx property, the mill included. The Park Department used the building as a carpentry shop, though the grinding machinery and water mill stayed in place until about 1900.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1952

    The snuff mill is renovated with a riverside cafe and a meeting room

    After decades of Parks Department storage and shops, the mill passed to the New York Botanical Garden in 1937 with several other small parcels. A renovation in 1952-54 added a cafe and patio on the low side facing the Bronx River. The room that had held the snuff-grinding equipment became a meeting room.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1966

    April 19

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the Lorillard Snuff Mill a city landmark

    The commission held hearings in January and February 1966, with no one speaking against the designation. Botanical Garden director William C. Steere wrote that the garden was delighted, and Parks Commissioner Thomas Hoving recommended the designation by letter. The report praised the mill's masonry and noted its old beams, still marked where grinding machinery was fixed, left exposed over a conference room.

    “In a letter, Park Commissioner Thomas Hoving recommended designation.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  6. 2010

    The mill, now named for Lillian and Amy Goldman, gets a $10.5 million restoration

    The building, now called the Lillian and Amy Goldman Stone Mill, underwent a restoration costing $10.5 million in 2010. It now houses staff offices and a catering facility. The mill had been declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977 and stands inside the New York Botanical Garden, which holds that status as well.

    “The building had a $10.5 million restoration in 2010. It is now used for staff offices and a catering facility.”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 5 buildings with stories in Bronx Park