Weston Mills was founded by the Weston family, three brothers who set up the titular mill in the community. The original Weston family homestead is now owned by the government, which operates it as a group home.
According to county administrator Jack Searles, the name was likely either Weston's Mills or Westons Mills at first (the 1869 Beers Atlas uses the name "Westonville" for the location), then changed to Weston Mills at the behest of President Benjamin Harrison, who sought to standardize post-office names by removing unnecessary possessive forms (see United States Board on Geographic Names). The "s" was slowly, and colloquially, restored over the course of the 1960s, after a retail store opened using the "Weston's" name.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
