Berg's Mill

Sandstone ruins of Berg's Mill building in a grass field.

NPS Photo/Andrew Shirey

Quick Facts

Location:

29° 20.084′ N, 98° 27.391′ W

Designation:

World Heritage Site

A Community, Place and Legacy

Berg's Mill, Texas

Berg's Mill (Mills) was on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway near Mission San Juan, eight miles south of downtown San Antonio in southern Bexar County. 

The San Antonio River provided mission communities and early settlers with water for their homes and fields and power for small mills that ground corn, wheat and other grains. The first known mill was built at Mission San José in the 1790s, and by the late 1800s, many others, including several in the area by Mission San Juan and Berg's Mill lined the river from its headwaters to Mission Espada.

The settlement grew up around the ruined buildings of the first wool-washing mill in the area. A grist and saw mill built here in 1842 by Roderick Higginbotham and William Kerr was renovated in 1879 by Louis Ashley and later leased to Henry and Louis S. Berg. The small surrounding community became known as Berg's Mill.

A post office opened there in 1887, closed in 1890, and reopened in 1892 under the name Hellemans, after a local family. Both names were used for a time, but in later years the original name was preferred. In 1940 Berg's Mill was at the center of the Median Irrigation Project and had a population of 100. With the growth of San Antonio after World War II the community lost its separate character, and by the 1960s it was no longer shown on maps.