WATKINS MILL ASSOCIATION INC
6416 Larson Court, Kansas City, MO 64133 watkinsmill.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: The Watkins Mill Association was founded in 1958 to promote the Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site and to provide financial assistance for preservation projects carried out by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Division of State Parks.

Watkins Mill Association proactively supports the preservation and living history of Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site. Watkins Mill is the last textile mill in the United States with its original machinery still intact. The Association promoted the Mill to be recognized by the United States Department of Interior as a National Historical Landmark, the National Register of Historic Places, a Clay County Historic Landmark, and a National Mechanical Engineering Landmark. The Association turned the Historic Site into a destination, restoring Watkins' Home, Mill, Chapel, one-room Schoolhouse and farm buildings. It worked. Watkins Mill is now the region's premier historic attraction. During 2019, there were 14.063 Historic Site Visitors and 312,986 Park Visitors. Data shows they come from all over Missouri, as well as many zip codes in Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas and beyond. Visiting the Historic Site is like stepping into the 19th Century. Many of the buildings that Waltus Watkins built over half a century - including the family home and three-story woolen mill - are preserved to provide Visitors a sense of life in the 1870s. College professors and K-12 teachers often include Watkins Mill in curricula for its historical importance to entrepreneurs in frontier life, the Industrial Revolution and Civil War. In partnership with Missouri State Parks, the Association has cultivated an 1870s non-traditional community venue which encourages historic, educational, cultural, and recreational programs. 2019 activities included these popular annual events: Volunteer Recognition Dinner, Fall on the Farm, Get Outdoors Day 6K Run, Living History interpretive weekends, and Christmas on the Farm in the Watkins Home. The 6K Run, established in 2014, has become a dependable earned income activity. The Association's Harvest Gala, a successful new annual fundraiser in its fourth year, generated a 224% growth in net revenue, along with a 1.4% increase in attendance.

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Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (public 990 form dataset) from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202033029349301978_public.xml