The Old Mill Museum, also known as the Alfred Wilkerson Grist Mill, is a historic structure located along the

River Raisin The River Raisin (, 'River of Sturgeon') is a river in southeast Michigan, United States, that flows in a generally easterly direction through Ice age, glacial sediments before emptying into Lake Erie. The River Raisin drainage basin covers app ...

at 242 Toledo Street in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. It was designated as a

Michigan Historic Site The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office is one of 59 state historic preservation offices established according to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 that plays a role in implementing federal historic preservation policy in th ...

on August 3, 1979. It was later listed as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

within the Dundee Historic District, which was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on August 20, 1990. Referred to as the oldest and most notable landmark in Dundee, it is the Dundee Historic District's only inclusion (along with the surrounding park) on the opposite of the river from the rest of the downtown area. While the facility itself was not built until the 1849, the dam upon which it is located was first constructed in 1827 and rebuilt in 1846. It is the largest of several dams located along the River Raisin — the majority of which are in nearby

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States * Marilyn Monroe, actress and model Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...

The facility first served as a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

for the growing milling industry in Dundee. Later, the building was converted to produce hydroelectricity as the village's only source of power around 1910. As the oldest surviving structure in Dundee, it was almost demolished in 1934 after years of disuse. Automotive magnate

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

purchased the building and restored it at great cost as part of his

village industries Henry Ford's Village Industries were small factories located in rural areas of Michigan. Ford developed his Village Industries in part to provide farm workers a stable source of income during the winter months. Philosophy Ford strongly felt th ...

program. His only addition to the original three-story structure was the addition of a single-story structure on the side of the building. He converted the mill into a small factory to produce welding tips for his industry, and he was known to make many visits to Dundee. His interest in Dundee was an experiment to see if small towns could be used for his massive, global industry. After Ford's death in 1947, support for this small factory diminished, and it was sold in 1954 to the Wolverine Manufacturing Company, where the building was converted once more to produce paper products. The Wolverine Manufacturing Company used the facility until 1970, when they sold it to the village of Dundee for $1. The village revamped the structure and its surrounding 13.8 acres (5.6 ha) for public use as a museum and park. Although the property is praised for its historical nature, it is not listed on the

in its own right. The museum offers ghosts tours and paranormal investigations. The Old Mill Museum is also the location of the annual Old Mill ParaFest.

References

External links

Old Mill Museum
- official site {{National Register of Historic Places listings in Monroe County, Michigan Industry museums in Michigan Museums in Monroe County, Michigan Industrial buildings completed in 1849 Michigan State Historic Sites in Monroe County Grinding mills on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Historic district contributing properties in Michigan Ford village industries Victorian architecture in Michigan History museums in Michigan Mill museums in Michigan 1849 establishments in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Michigan