The Unofficial Modena Page- By John Graves

Why is Modena a good place to live?

• Within commuting distance of major centers of employment in Coatesville, Exton, West Chester, Reading, Lancaster, Wilmington, even Philadelphia on Regional Rail.
• Located along the W. Branch of the Brandywine, which has been designated 'Wild and Scenic' downstream of Modena.
• Outdoor recreational activities you don't have to drive for miles to get to. For instance, there is canoeing just a couple of miles down stream.
• Historic buildings and a 'town center' - not a sprawling development.
• Relatively inexpensive compared to the rest of the county.
• Small town atmosphere, in fact the whole borough is small.
• Good schools nearby.

Modena is located near Coatesville in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Modena History
Some Mode Genealogy and Family Background

The following is from a notebook of material on the Borough collected by Paul Kusnierczyk and is from a single-spaced Xerox copy of a typed document, author unknown. It is not dated but the typed portion appears to have been written about 1963/4

Alexander Mode(I) 1720 appears to have settled in Chester County before 1740. He was a Quaker and married Ellen Duncan under the care of Chester Monthly Meeting. Following her death he married Sara Hussey. A son by the first marriage, Alexander Mode (II) (1713-1751) married Rebecca Allen of London Grove in 1741. At this time Alexander was living in East Fallowfield Township near the present borough of Modena. In 1743, Deed Book Z-225, Alexander is designated as a carpenter. He leased three-quarters of an acre from James Hayes for 999 years by payment of thirty shillings. The lease appears to have been for water rights in order to operate the mill. Alexander and Rebecca had the following children - Emey, Ruth, Hannah, and William Mode (I) who married Phebe Taylor in 1764.

In 1766 he was taxed for a saw mill and for a fulling mill. He owned a large acreage in the Brandywine Valley southeast of Coatesville. William and Phebe had the following children - Rebecca, Mary, Alexander (III), Emey (Amy), Phebe, Allen, and William (II). Of these, Alexander and William became paper makers. The Modes were active in establishing Fallowfield Friends Meeting in Ercildoun and in building the meeting house there in 1794. In the graveyard adjacent to the meeting house several paper makers are buried.

Alexander Mode (III) (c. 1780 - 1866) married Mary Ridgway. He died without issue and willed his estate to his nieces and nephews.

William Mode (II) (1774 - 1839) - married Elizabeth Baker in 1819. Their children were Sarah, James, Allen, Alexander (IV), Phebe, Amy, and William (III). Of these Alexander and William became paper makers.

William Mode (III) (1822 - 1904) - married Elizabeth Pierce. Their children were Walter, Elizabeth, and Alice.

Alexander Mode (IV) (1828 - 1906) - married Annie G. Comly, who at the age of seventy-five in 1921 became the first burgess of the Borough of Modena. She died in 1929. Alexander had the following children: William Alexander and Herbert.

For nearly two centuries members of the Mode family were active participants in the affairs of East Fallowfield Township. At one period they owned several hundred acres of farm land here. The name of the town which grew up around the paper mill has been variously known as Modeville, Modena, and Paperville. Soon after the close of the Civil War when the Wilmington and Reading Railroad came through the little town the station was named Mode. Stones in the graveyard adjacent to the meeting house in Ercildoun bear witness to a number of the Mode family who were active in this community years ago. Notwithstanding these evidences of earlier activity the name Mode has almost completely disappeared from Chester County.

Paper Mills At Modena

William and Alexander Mode 1812-1840

Alexander Mode (III) and Park Shea rented the Allison Paper Mill in Uwchlan Township between 1808 and 1812. The fact that Alexander was twenty-eight years old when he began this work suggests that he may have learned the papermaking trade some years before and, possibly, this was done at the mill on Buck Run a few miles from his boyhood home. In any event, in 1812 Alexander and his older brother William converted their father's grist mill into a paper mill. The Mode saw, fulling, grist, and paper mills were operated by water power from a dam, or dams, on the Brandywine up the valley from Modena. Nathan Seller's records show that he was selling the Mode Paper Mill moulds between 1812 and the 1820's. In 1816 and again in 1818 the four letters MODE were made in the mould at the extra cost of $1.00. Writing and printing paper appear to have been the main products of the Mode mill at this period. Certain checks of the Bank of the United States dated "Philadelphia 182 " carry the MODE watermark.

The following excerpts from the East Fallowfield tax lists give a glimpse of the mill operations of the Mode family.

The East Fallowfield tax lists between 1812 and 1835 contain the names of a score of men designated as "Paper Makers". It is not always possible to determine whether they worked at the Mode mill or at one of the mills on Buck Run. This energetic stream constitutes most of the western boundary of East Fallowfield Township.

Between 1830 and 1840 the tax lists indicate that the Mode Mill did not suffer as much as did most Chester County paper mills during the depression of the 1830's. Although the valuation of the mills dropped by $500 it did manage to keep going. William Mode died in 1839. The paper mill closed the following year. Papers No 9861 in the Register of Wills Office indicate that, on August 22, 1839, Anthony Kelty, William Stedman (local paper makers), and William Hicks inventoried "the stock in trade of the late firm of A & W Mode." Items of interest in this inventory are:

Finished paper of Different qualities $6,159.93
Unfinished paper of Different qualities $2,067.64
Utensils for making paper $203.83 1/2
Bleach, Alum, Rosin, Indigo & Soap $63.17
Rags, Etc. of Different qualities $858.67
Horses, oxen, calves, cows and pigs $493.00
 

The above articles were owned in common by the Mode brothers. As William Mode did not leave a Will his wife, Elizabeth, was appointed administrator of the estate. His brother, Alexander, was appointed as guardian of the children.

In 1840 the rag room of the paper mill was converted into a cocoonery in the hope of producing silk. This venture, however, was short-lived as it proved unprofitable. Painter and Bowen's 1847 Map of Chester County shows Alexander Mode's paper mill at Modena and a Mode's paper mill on Buck Run. The Modena mill was idle at this time. The Buck Run mill was rented from the Phipps family and operated by Alexander Mode and William Stedman for a short time.

William and Alexander Mode 1850-1882

By 1850 William Mode's (II) sons, William and Alexander were twenty-seven and twenty-two years old respectively. They had grown up at the old paper mill. Their uncle, Alexander, now sixty-nine years old, was still a paper maker at heart and eager to advise his nephews. Thus in 1850 the second generation of Mode brothers remodeled the old rag room and added a large wing in which modern machinery was installed. Provision was make to have a steam supplement water power from the dam. The 1850 tax list shows W & A Mode paying tax on 1 1/2 acres of land and a paper mill valued at $2,000. Their brother, James, was taxed for 12 acres of land and a sawmill valued at $792.

After the Civil War the mill continued to increase its production. By 1870 the mill property was valued at $15,000. The Mode brothers became active in projects other than the paper mill. From 1869 until 1907 Alexander Mode was a directory of the National Bank of Chester Valley and served as Secretary of the Bank Board for thirty-seven years. This Bank is the second oldest in Chester County having been started in 1857. William Mode was president of the Bank from 1882 until 1893.

Lockwood's Directory for 1873-74 reported as follows:

W & A Mode. Mode's Mill. Mill contains two engines; 240 lbs. roll 26 x 36; two engines, 290 lbs. roll 30 x 36; one 72-inch Fourdrinier Machine. Water and Steam. Makes Book. Capacity 2,000 lbs. 24 hours

In the early 1870's the Wilmington and Reading Railroad was built and was close to the mill. This greatly facilitated the mill's shipping facilities. The United States Census for 1880 reported that the Mode Mill had sold $63,000 worth of paper the previous year. Notwithstanding the fact that William and Alexander Mode each had a son the paper mill was sold in 1882.

Megargee Brothers 1882-1923

Since passing from the ownership of the Mode family this mill has had nine different corporate owners. Deed Book M-9-228 records the sale of the mill and two acres of land in 1882 by William Mode and his wife, Pricilla, and by Alexander Mode and his wife, Annie, to the firm of Megaargee Brothers for $20,000. At this time Patrick Doyle, Benjamin Holbrook, Irwin Megargee, George M. Megargee, and Theodore Megargee were trading as Paper Merchants under the firm name of Megargee Brothers in Philadelphia. Previously they had an interest in the Spring Lawn Paper Mill located on Big Elk Creek in Chester County. Machinery was moved from the Spring Mill to Modena. The Daily Local News of November 8, 1882 reported as follows:

Enterprise at Modena. The Dove paper mill at Modena, formerly owned by W. and A. Mode, will start shortly in operation under the charge of Mr. R. Jackson in the manufacture of printing paper for Megargee Brow. of Philadelphia, the firm who own and run the mill. The mill has been enlarged and greatly improved and new machinery introduced. This new machinery consists of three 600 pound mashers built by Guyon Miller & Co. of Downingtown, one rag duster, on stack of 72-inch chilled iron, one steam engine, one extra steam boiler, on Teffee turbine water wheel, a Holly pump, a small piston pump, an improved shaft and other valuable additions. The mill has been so changed and improved in its appearance, within and without that it would not be identified if found in another place. The mill will soon be running night and day, and the manager expects to manufacture paper at the rate of 5,500 pounds each day of twenty-four hours. The quality of the paper will compare with that manufactured at the best mills. Stock is now being laid in and the mill whistle calling the thirty hands to daily and nightly labor will soon be heard.

In the above newspaper account the Megargee mill it is designated as the "Dove paper mill." Later reference is found to Dove Mill No. 1 and Dove Mill N. 2. at Modena. The outline of a dove with an olive-branch was a popular watermark among papermakers. Such a watermark had been used at the Willcox mill on Chester Creek in what is now Delaware County. This mill was set up in 1729. A somewhat similar watermark was used in 1789 at the Gilpin Paper Mill on the Brandywine in the state of Delaware.

In the Bible the dove was used to symbolize peace, purity, and affection. Purity of product and peace and affection between labor and management are objectives which are diligently sought after in contemporary paper mills in Chester County and elsewhere. As yet no proof has been found that the Modena mills actually used the dove as a watermark. In the early days at the Mode mill paper was made sheet by sheet, air-dried, and tub-sized which required weeks and sometimes months before the product was ready for market. During this period if 250 pounds of paper were [produced] in one day it was a record. By the 1880's it was claimed that the use of modern machinery made possible paper ready for market three hours after the rags had been sorted. Although the industrial revolution effected economies of time and labor and greatly speeded production it brought an end to the poetry of papermaking by the old hand process. No longer was it possible for one craftsman to have the same pride in his essential role in the process of papermaking.

Megargee Brothers continued to increase production at their Modena plant. In 1902 they decided to relocate the paper mill on the east side of the Brandywine Valley less than a half-mile from the old location. Frank B. Gilbreth, a well-known Boston Engineer, took the contract to build the new mill. (He and his family were featured in the popular movie "Cheaper by the Dozen" some years ago.) In the Spring of 1903 Mr. Gilbreth sent two of his engineers to Modena to get the project started. One of these engineers was Ernest B. MacNaughton who had been graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1902.

Mr. MacNaughton and his MIT fellow engineer had great difficulty in finding suitable living quarters. After an unhappy experience for some weeks in a Coatesville boarding house where they were sandwiched in with foreign laborers who were employed in the steel mills they sought a more hospitable location. Mr. MacNaughton walked across the Brandywine to the spacious home of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Mode seeking help. On his first trip he talked with the maid and had but little success. Later he talked with Mrs. Mode who was sympathetic to the plight of the young engineers. She and her husband invited them to live with the Mode family as guests. This they did for several months albeit the Modes refused to take any remuneration. In 1951 Mr. MacNaughton wrote to the author of this book describing his experiences and giving permission to use any part of his letter. By this time Mr. MacNaughton was prominent in business and banking circles in Portland, Oregon.

He described some of his experiences as follows:

We had a large corner room on the second floor with four big windows in it. The home was beautifully furnished. Mrs. Mode bought a saddle for the horse so that I could ride horseback around the country on Sundays, and she arranged parties and dances for us. There was a large porch around three sides of the house, and I can tell you we certainly had some good times due to the kindness of Mrs. Mode and Mr. Mode....But for years after that Mrs. Mode would write to me and send little Christmas gifts. I didn't return to that part of Pennsylvania until 1937. I made it a point to drive to Modena, found the old house - in a somewhat run-down condition- and then I went to the little cemetary of the little town of Ercildoun and found the graves of Mr. and Mrs. Mode. I can never forget the kindness shown to me by Mr. and Mrs. Mode.

Operations of the newly located and well-engineered paper mills at Modena are reflected in the following report in Lockwood's Directory for 1905:

Megargee Paper Mills (Modena)
A.F. Leonhard, Pres., Theodore A. Megargee, Vice Pres., George M. Megargee, Sec.and Gen. Mgr. P.O. address 18 South Sixth Street, Philadelphia. Mills No. I and II. S.P. at Mill. Three 500-lb, five 1,000lb., and three Jordan engines; one 72-inch Four-drinier and one 72-inch Harper Fourdrinier. Water and steam. All Rag Waterleaf, 25,000 lbs. 24 hours. All Rag Water Leaf for Parchmentizing and Vulcanizing.

The same Directory for 1912 gave somewhat similar data. At this time the mills are designated as "DOVE MILLS I and II". The production had increased to 40,000 lbs. 24 hours. The 1921 Directory listed:

DOVE MILLS NOS. I and II.
J.W.Outerson, Supt. Fifteen 1,000-lb. Beating, three 500-lb. and ten 2,000-lb. Washing and Beating and four Jordan engines; ten Rotary Boilers; three 72-inch and one 80-inch Fourdrinier Machines. Widest trimmed sheets, 64 and 72 inches. Electricity and Steam. Rag Waterleaf for Fibre and Parchmentizing. News Print, Adding Machine Papers, and Wood Manilas, Specialties. 60,000 lbs. 24 hours.

Paterson Parchment Paper Company 1923-1936

Deed Book F-16-219 records the sale of the Megargee Paper Mills in June 1923 to the Patterson Parchment Paper Company for $1 and other considerations. The sale involved fifteen tracts on which paper mill workers' homes were located. In a sense this sale was more of a consolidation than a change in ownership. Certain members of the Megargee family became officers in the Patterson firm at this time. The Patterson Parchment Paper Company had two other paper mills, one at Passaic, New Jersey, and one at Edgely, Pennsylvania. The firm's letterhead indicated that it had been established in 1885 and that it had a capital and surplus of over $5,000,000.

By 1925 the Modena plant was producing 70,000 lbs. of "Rag Waterleaf for Fiber and Parchmentizing" each 24 hours. Soon after this "No. 1 Kraft and Absorbant Kraft" were added as products from this mill. Lockwood's Directory for 1925 listed the Modena plant machinery as follows:

Fifteen 1,000-lb. Beating, three 500-lb. and ten 2-000-lb. Washing and one 80-inch Fourdrinier. Widest trimmed sheet 64 x 72 inches. Steam and Electricity.

Little by little Modena took on the characteristics of a "mill town". In 1921 it became a borough. With the advent of women's suffrage, happily, Mrs. Alexander Mode was elected as the first burgess. Being a one-industry town it suffered from the ups and downs of the paper industry. Paper machines once started, had to be kept in continuous operation. As the mill ownership was no longer local, the old esprit de corps between workers and owners was more difficult. Labor unions became a necessity to protect the interests of the workers. Soon the Patterson firm owned fifty-five houses in Modena and peak employment reached 300. What a change a century had brought since paper was made here by vat-man, the coucher, and the layboy. Then problems of stream pollution, paid holidays, and a forty-hour week were unknown. [Hand Written in: In 1928 the Mill had sixty-nine employees]

Lockwood's Directories for 1930 and 1935 indicate that the volume of production continued to be similar to that stated for 1925. However, the depression of the 1930's caused many business firms to seek more economical patterns of operation. On January 11, 1936 the Patterson Parchment Company decided to sell the Modena plant and consolidate their operations at their Bristol, Pennsylvania plant. A few months later much of the Modena machinery was moved to Bristol and some of the personnel were transferred. For over a year Modena was seriously depressed town. Families who had lived here for two generations now faced an uncertain future. Some relocated while others stayed in the hope that the mill would reopen.

Modena Paper Company, Beach & Arthur Paper Company 1937-1957

The Coatesville Record on January 18, 1937 reported that the Modena paper mill and fifty-five houses had been sold to the Modena Paper Company for a consideration of $185,000. In March the same paper identified the new purchaser as the Klan Products Company of Cincinnati and New York and reported that machinery was being installed. It was anticipated that there would be employment for 400 men and women. Substantial additions were being made to the plant during 1937.

A study of the deeds pertaining to the sale of the property leads to some confusion. Deed Book T-18-364 records the sale by the Patterson firm to the Modena Paper Company. A few days later this company changed its title to Beach & Arthur, Kleen Products Company. By August the corporate name was Beach & Arthur Paper Company. Although the plant continued to be known by this name in 1947 legally it became the Modena Paper Mills Inc., Deed Book X-23-164.

Just what factors caused this rash of name changing is not entirely clear but it proved to be infectious. In 1930 the name of the town which had been Modena since its inception as a borough changed to Paperville. By 1938 the post office which had been Modena since its beginning in 1873 became Paperville. The new name failed to produce satisfaction and in 1944 both the town and the post office again became Modena. This name has a feeling of warmth and pleasant memories of the Mode family which left such an indelible imprint the Brandywine Valley in this area.

The Coatesville Record continued to keep the public informed concerning developments at Modena. In August 1937 it was reported that $2,000,000 had been invested in the plant and it was hoped that 300 people would be employed. Beach & Arthur had other paper plants at North Wales, Pennsylvania, and in Indiana. Their headquarters were in Indianapolis, Indiana. The officers were R.W. Beach, President; William H. Arthur, Vice President; Col H. E. Rockert, Secretary. The renovated mill at Modena operated entirely by electrical power. It used bothe ground wood and chemical pulp. The pulp came from New England, and the Pacific Northwestern states as well as from Canada and Finland.

World War II soon brought new problems. In April 1942 Mrs. Isabel D. Jacob of Parkesburg bought 52 houses in Modena from the Company. By 1944 77% of the plants' product was for the Army and Navy with some being used by the Government Printing Office. Local No. 88 of the Paper Workers of America, a C.I.O. Union, began to represent the workers in 1942. When the Beach & Arthur mill began at Modena the products were principally semi-crepe tissue stock for use in the manufacture of plain and decorated napkins, luncheon sets, and table cloths. Later manifold, mimeograph, light weight bond papers, and other specialties were added. The latter included die wipe for the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

A major problem for any paper mill is water. The replacement of water power by steam and electricity did not eliminate the importance of water. At the Modena mill it took from 14,000 to 18,000 gallons of water for the production of each ton of paper. In 1946 there was a state wide program to clean up the streams of Pennsylvania. At a cost of $25,000 a water purifying plant was constructed at the Modena mill which, it was claimed, returned water to the Brandywine purer than when it was removed. In May 1946 the paper mill was forced to close for three weeks due to a shortage of coal.

Post's Paper Mill Directory for 1947 listed the officers of Beach & Arthur Paper Company as follows: Stephen F. Briggs, Bd. Chr.; T.F. Murphy, Pres. and Gen. Mgrl; James C. Herzler, Sec-Treas., Arthur W. Redlin, Vice-Pres. and Gen. Supt.; R.H. Dommel, Pur. Agt. Sales Offices were located at 17 E. 42nd St., New York.

In order to enhance wholesome public relations with their communities many firms in Chester County held an 'open house' in the late 1940's. The management of the Beach & Arthur Paper Company held such an affair at their Modena plant on September 29 and October 6, 1948. Visitors were given an attractive pamphlet showing what was made and indicating the significance of the plant to the economy of the community. Pertinent facts taken from this pamphlet are as follows:

The mill employs approximately 125 people in normal times, with an approximate annual payroll of $500,000. Yearly Production 10,000 Tons. Grades of Paper Produced: Manifold, Register Bond, Mimeograph, Waxing, Die Wipe, Napkin Stock, Colored Crepe, Writing and Specialties. Yearly Consumption:

Hopper Paper Company 1957-1964 a Division of the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Company

Deed Book Y-28-185 described the sale of land, paper mill buildings, filter plant, settling basin, office buildings, and certain dwellings to the Hopper Paper Company in January 1957. For a few years prior to this sale the plant had been owned by the Erving Paper Mills of Erving Massachusetts. The Hopper Paper Company has a large mill at Taylorville, Illinois, where their main office is located. They also have a paper mill in Reading, Pennsylvania. Lockwood's 1961 Directory gives the following data pursuant to the Modena Mill:

Hopper Paper Company, formerly Modena Paper Mills, Inc. W.E. Quillin, Mill Mgr.; J.V. Pennegar, Chief Engr. S.P at Mill, Railroad Sidings, two on Reading R.R. One 2000-lb and one 3000-lb. Pulpers, one 3300-lb. Beater and three Jordans. One Ross Paper Machine Ventilator System. One 24-inch Fourdrinier; widest trimmed sheet 108 inches. Steam and purchase electricity. Steam Engine and Electric Drives. Oil. 150 p.s.i. Steam [? words not copied here]. Water Treatment Plant. Offset, Papeterie, Rag Content Greeting [word not copied] Index, Text, Cover , and Specialties. 32 1/2 tons 24 hours. Highway, U. [word not copied] at Coatesville, 3 miles off.

Hopper Paper Company, Division of the Georgia Pacific Company 1963 -

In keeping with the pattern of change so characteristic of the paper mills at Modena, in July 1963 Hopper Paper Company became a Division of Georgia Pacific Company. However, this change made no alterations in local management at Modena.

In November 1963 a tour through the Modena Mill with the able and genial Mill Manager, Dr. Horace B. Faber, as guide showed that the plant was seeking to meet the challenge of an ever changing scene by the installation of more efficient equipment and the constant improvement in the quality of its products. Dr. Faber is unusually well equipped for the role of plant mangager. A native of York County, Pennsylvania, he is a graduate of Yale University and received the Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Paper Chemistry at Appleton, Wisconsin. During the few years that he has been plant manager he has won the cooperation and respect of the plant workers and has markedly improved the operating efficiency of the mill. At this time there were 115 people employed at the mill.

A noteworthy aspect of the paper mills at Modena has been the small number of serious fires which have occurred during the past one hundred and fifty years. By contrast with other Chester County paper mills this is surprising. In March 1941 a fire destroyed some $20,000 worth of finished paper while damage to the plant was not great. Only two other paper mills in Chester County, those at Dorlans and those at Beaver Dam, have made paper for a longer period of time than the Modena mills.

[Hand written in: 'In light of the mill closing in 1964' and at top 'In view of announced closing of this mill rewrote']

With more than 150 years of colorful, resourceful, and productive paper history behind it, it is anticipated that this location in the Brandywine Valley will continue to be a vital factor and play and expanding role in the future history of paper making in America.

The Paper Mill on Dennis Run, 1854 - 1872

The road leading southwest from Modena to Hephzibah for about a mile follows the valley of a small rocky stream known as Dennis Run. A short distance west of the point where this road crossed Dennis Run, the location of what was once a dam is still clearly evident. however, the exact site of the paper mill, which was powered by this dam, has not been found. Maps of the period indicate that the mill was close to the dam.

The Mill Under (Joshua B. Broomell, 1854 - 1865)

In 1850 and for a few years thereafter Joshua B. Broomell operated a general store at McWilliamtown, today's Hephzibah. The McWilliamstown Post Office was in the store for many years. As Mr. Broomell's brother-in-laws, David S. and Robert J. Young, were operating a paper mill on Buck Run in 1855 and as he already had some experience in this field of activity getting his own mill is understandable. Moreover he had a growing family and needed more income. In 1854 Joshua B. Broomell paid tax in East Fallowfield Township on a "house & store" valued at $500 and a "Paper Mill & Lot" valued at $1,200. The latter refers to the mill on Dennis Run. Title to this property was not taken until 1857 when Elizabeth Mode sold 91/2 acres to Martha Broomell, Deed Book Q-6-563. In the Septennial Census of 1857 Joshua Broomell and his brother, John G. Broomell were each listed as paper makers. The tax assessment of the Dennis Run property rose from $1,200 in 1854 to $1,800 in 1860.

During the 1860's, due to the Civil War, the activities of many paper mills were greatly curtailed. As it was very small it seems likely that the Dennis Run Mill was on a limited basis during this time. The Village Record of November 7, 1865 reported "Robert J. Young has purchase J.B. Broomell's Binders Board Mill near Coatesville for $10,000. Mr. Young, however, will not take possession of the property until Mr. Broomell erects his new mill." The new mill to be built at Rokeby.

The Mill under (Robert J. Young, 1866 - 1870)

Prior to the Civil War Robert J. Young had worked as a farmer and as a paper maker. From 1862 until 1865 he served in the Northern Army. Either the Village Record inflated figures with respect to the price paid for the Dennis Run Mill property or else the township assessor made conservative evaluations. In 1868 the property was listed at $2,000 in the tax record. In addition to this Mr. Young paid tax on three horses valued at $30 each. Exactly where he lived is not certain as the paper mill property contained a barn in addition to the mill. In title transfers of the property no mention was made of a house. Although Robert J. Young continued to be taxed for the paper mill until 1870 it seems probable that he helped his brother, David S. Young, who by this time had purchased property at Buck Run Station and had built a paper mill on it.

In the tax record of 1870 the name of Robert J. Young is crossed out and that of Isaac Chandler is substituted. No mention of the paper mill is made in the 1871 assessment. However, on Witmer's map of 1874 a paper mill is indicated at this location with the owners being given as Mode and Company. The Mode's had reacquired the property which had initially been a part of their land. William and Alexander Mode were operating a large paper mill at Modena in 1870. When visiting the Modena paper mill in the autumn of 1963 it was learned that this mill continued to have a water right to water from the Dennis Run and that it had equipment to pump water from it to the Modena plant.