Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Restaurant had opened in historic landmark in December 2011
Despite glowing online reviews, downtown Montgomery’s Gray’s Mill restaurant closed its doors recently. A message on the restaurant’s website simply states “Gray’s Mills is closed. Thank you for your patronage.” The upscale Italian and American eatery opened in December 2011 in Montgomery’s historic Gray’s Mill. The landmark was built in the 1850s to mill flour for Union soldiers in the Civil War. The building has been owned since 1984 by Tim Ivers, who along with My Chef Catering of Naperville, operated Gray's Mill. Ivers spent years renovating the site and even won an award from Illinois Landmarks Preservation Council in 2001 for his efforts. Village officials paved the way for the restaurant and hoped that it might help spark a …
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Gray's Mill
211 N River St, Montgomery, IL
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Thursday, July 12, 2012
How the old mill was restored and transformed into the centerpiece of Montgomery's downtown.
Ernie Anfinsen was an electrical engineer, and co-owner of Anfinsen Plastic Molding, when the United States Government called him to Washington D.C. to oversee a munitions plant. He left his wife and children behind, sold his portion of the business to his partner, who was also his brother, and left to serve his country. When the war was over, he came back home and found that the plastic molding business was thriving and doing well with a single owner, so he decided to open his own business manufacturing and repairing electrical equipment. He began the search for a suitable location. The old abandoned mill on River Street in Montgomery looked promising, although it was in horrible condition. Vandals had broken in repeatedly over the years…
Monday, May 14, 2012
Village President Marilyn Michelini ran down the successes of the past year at last Thursday's Greater Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce membership dinner.
The past 12 months have seen some significant growth in the village of Montgomery, according to Village President Marilyn Michelini. And none of the roughly 35 business leaders gathered at Gray’s Mill to hear her speak last Thursday night would disagree. For the sixth year in a row, the Greater Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce held their membership dinner, this year at Gray's Mill, one of the newest restaurants in town. Michelini was the guest speaker, delivering her State of the Village Address. And she had a lot to talk about. But she started by welcoming a special guest. Sgt. Christopher Bastida, home on leave from the Marine Corps, received thunderous applause from the crowd. Bastida has been a Marine since 2007, and returned to his…
Friday, May 4, 2012
The results of this week's Reader's Choice poll.
Mother’s Day is a week from Sunday. To prepare, we asked you this week for your favorite place in town to eat Mother’s Day brunch. Again, we didn’t get a good response to this one – only two votes. But since both votes were for the same restaurant, we’re calling it: Gray’s Mill is the Reader’s Choice favorite for this week. Here’s what you had to say: “Finally a restaurant with real homemade tasty food,” said Angie Drew. “Went there Saturday night for dinner and the blackened walleye was the best I have ever had. So many wonderful things on the menu to try next time.” “I ate there a couple months ago and loved the place and the food,” Kelly Ivers said. “The bar downstairs is my favorite area. It would be my go-to local place if I lived in …
Monday, April 30, 2012
Where is your favorite spot in town to take mom for a Mothers Day brunch? Click the links below to vote for your choice.
It’s Monday, so it’s Readers’ Choice time again. Get excited! Now, we don’t want to alarm anyone, but Mothers Day is coming up quickly. It’s May 13 this year, which means you’d better have your plans set this week, and your reservations made for Mothers Day brunch. You don’t want to disappoint mom, right? That’s why we’re asking for your favorite local place to eat Mothers Day brunch. We’ve got seven choices below for a brunch-tastic good time with mom, and you can vote for your favorite by clicking the link and leaving a review. The eatery with the most new reviews by Friday at noon will be declared this week’s Readers’ Choice. As always, if we’ve forgotten your favorite brunch spot, let us know and we’ll correct that immediately. But …
Monday, April 2, 2012
In which we award a $25 gift card to one lucky winner, and tell you how you can enter to win the prize this month.
Here at Patch, we’re all about local. We live in your town, we’re part of your community, and we support local businesses however we can. We’re also all about getting you the news you need, as quickly as we can. And last month, we landed on a way to do both. For the whole of March, we placed a box at Gray’s Mill on River Street. We asked you to put your business cards in the box, to sign up for our daily email newsletters. And we told you that at the end of the month, we’d draw one card from the box, and award that person a $25 gift card to Gray’s Mill. Well, the time has come, and Sheila, one of the fine servers at Gray’s Mill, did the honors for us. The card Sheila drew belongs to Calla Lily Salon, Spa and Victorian Tea Room on Lincoln …
Monday, March 26, 2012
Our new weekly feature is about opportunities you shouldn't miss.
Welcome to Last Chance, where time is of the essence. This is a new weekly feature we’re trying out, in which we tell you about an opportunity you shouldn’t pass up. The clock is ticking, though – each of these opportunities will have a deadline, one that’s coming up in the next few days. Last Chance is our way of saying, “Don’t miss this. It’ll be worth it.” For our first go-round, we’re spotlighting the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. They’re launching their second Broadway series, and if you subscribed to the first, you know how good it was. This time, they’re going to stage perennial favorites Grease, Annie, The Music Man and Fiddler on the Roof. If you subscribed to the first year, you have until Saturday the 31st to renew before new …
Monday, March 12, 2012
Here's how to support your favorite spot to spend St. Patrick's Day. Click on the link and leave a review. The business with the most reviews by Friday afternoon wins.
Welcome back to Readers’ Choice, your weekly chance to support your favorite local businesses. This week, we’re looking for your favorite place in Montgomery to spend St. Patrick’s Day. (That’s coming right up – it’s Saturday, in fact.) We’ve got four choices for you below – if we missed any, please let us know, and we’ll add it to the list. We’ve done away with the straight-up voting this week. To vote for your favorite, click on the link below and leave a review on their page. We’ll keep this up until Friday at noon, and the business with the most reviews by then will be declared the winner. Your choices: Thanks for voting, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
On Tuesday night, the troupe formerly known as Comedy Under the Tap made their opening splash at Gray's Mill, in front of about 50 people.
In Montgomery, Tuesday night’s all right for laughing. About 50 people made the trip to Gray’s Mill on River Street on Tuesday for the debut show of Comedy on the Fox, the restaurant’s new weekly comedy showcase. Previously known as Comedy Under the Tap, the group spent the past two and a half years entertaining audiences at Oswego’s Tap House Grill. But according to Executive Producer Amelia Kleymann, support for the comedy show at the Tap House dried up over the past few months. Kleymann was ready to let the idea die—most comedy rooms last between three and four months, she said, and she was proud of the longevity of Comedy Under the Tap. But then she toured Gray’s Mill. The newly-reopened restaurant occupies the bottom floors of a five-…
Friday, March 2, 2012
We have a new deal for you. Drop a business card in our box at Gray's Mill this month, and you'll get our daily newsletter in your inbox, and be entered into a drawing to win a $25 Gray's Mill gift certificate.
You’re plugged in. You know the score. You visit Montgomery Patch every day, and you’re a fan of our Facebook page. And you’re signed up to our daily and weekly newsletters. Wait, you’re not signed up for the newsletter? Well, let me tell you what you’re missing. And after that, I’ll give you a great way to support local businesses and get the day's news sent right to you at the same time. The Patch newsletter is a handy way of getting all of our news, features, events listings and blog posts in your email every morning. All you need to do is provide us with an email address, and we’ll keep you up to date on everything that’s happening in town. You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter, which goes out on Thursdays and gives you the …
Adrienne Smith
10:46 am on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Downtown Montgomery is a tough location for any type of business. It's not on a main thoroughfare. Sorry to see Gray's Mill close. more ›