FARMINGTON — Armed with a dry wit and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor, Ogden native Tom Owens has fought many battles during his 81 years, the most recent spanning three decades.

On Monday, the Farmington resident will receive an outstanding achievement award for winning that 30-year fight to preserve a valuable piece of Utah history.

In 1992, Owens bought the Old Rock Mill in Farmington at auction. The former landmark had fallen into extensive disrepair after sitting vacant for a few years.

Built between 1857 and 1860 by Frederick Kessler for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the stately rock structure owned by Willard and Franklin Richards served as a flour mill until its use evolved into generating electricity around 1900.

Around 1960, it became home to the Heidelberg restaurant where people with means celebrated special occasions. That use ended around 1989 — and area teens and vandals began enjoying nightly sprees assaulting the place. But Owens believed it was somehow worth saving.

“The Richards Grist Mill is the most significant LDS historical building from the pioneer era that is in private hands anywhere, and it is one of the historical symbols of Farmington itself,” Owens said.

A self-described Latter-day Saint history buff — even while being an inactive church member — Owens also acknowledged that the building had never been officially placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Hence, it became vulnerable to demolition as developers hovered in hopes of stacking the hillside with homes.

When he bought the abandoned relic at auction in the early 1990s, Owens said it “was under the very real threat of being torn down and replaced by a row of six-plexes.”

“There was nothing in the code that stood in the way of it being demolished, and the developers were circling and were bidding against me with fervor,” Owens said. But he managed to outbid them all — purchasing the mill and about 9 surrounding acres for $216,000.

Restoring its grandeur

Then the real work began. First, he had to reclaim the mill from marauding vandals who were intent on inflicting more damage, and some of his training with the 101st Airborne during the Vietnam era proved useful in subduing their nightly raids.

Then Owens said he faced a massive cleanup job that spanned about a year. He recalled that effort culminating in 21 dump trucks hauling debris away.

After that, the work of restoration began, a project that lasted several years and “cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars and endless labor,” Owens said.

“It was all done with the idea of preserving the mill and its setting for the future generations of LDS history buffs to enjoy as I do,” Owens said.

Rather than launching another restaurant, Owens made the mill his home and also housed his advertising business in one of the adjacent outbuildings.

Rough road ahead

But the fight didn’t end there. A neighbor hoped to sell his property to developers who would populate the hillside with McMansions and multifamily structures — and Owens feared some would encroach on the old mill and its ambience.

“They were all making high-density proposals that would have done great damage to the Old Town and Main Street and especially the old mill,” Owens said. “The neighborhood … rose up and packed a number of Planning Commission and City Council meetings dealing with these ideas.”

That effort resulted in a compromise — a development agreement that safeguarded the approach and entry leading up to the old mill.

But in 2008 the real estate market collapsed. And over the next decade, Owens said that land got swapped and a lawsuit was settled in keeping with that agreement.

But growth and changes in city officials resulted in a slight but significant change to that contract that again placed the approach to the old mill in jeopardy.

Owens noted that “minor lot line changes” threatened to fundamentally change the agreement in such a way that it would strip the historic old mill of the protections hammered out by the former City Council.

Personal battles as well

During 2023, Owens battled cancer and Parkinson’s disease, impressing upon him the need to tie up loose ends so that his heirs would be left with blessings rather than burdens.

But current city officials rose to the challenge, purchasing the Old Rock Mill last summer for $4.75 million and agreeing to preserve its setting as a city park. Also, Owens could live in his home as long as he wanted.

Owens credited Farmington’s mayor, city manager, City Council members and “the whole damn staff at city hall” for embracing the deal.

“They are the ones who came to me and as a result are saving history in this particular scenario,” Owens said by email, his classic humor surfacing. “I just hung around long enough to collect the dough and reap the kudos.”

In July, Farmington City Manager Brigham Mellor told KSL that circumstances and timing had lined up for the city to purchase the old mill, noting that city officials shared Owens’ goal of preserving it in a way that would serve the community.

State recognition

In November, Owens received a letter from Jennifer Ortiz, director of the state’s Historical Society, informing him that he’d received an outstanding achievement award “in recognition of your positive contributions to history and history practices in Utah.”

At 4:30 p.m. Monday, Owens will receive that recognition during a ceremony at the governor’s mansion in Salt Lake City.

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