Giving Life to the Farwell Mill

Duane and Laurie Warner are giving the oldest building in Farwell, Mich., (pop. 1,043) a new lease on life. For the last year, the Warners have devoted their spare time to renovating the 125-year-old Farwell Mill, one of the last operable water-powered gristmills in the state.

“My husband and I are both antique lovers and like the idea of preserving history,” says Laurie, 35, a fourth-grade teacher at Farwell Elementary. “We fell in love with the place when we walked into it.”

Built in 1875-76, Farwell Mill is the last of four mills once located on a 20-acre pond on the edge of the village in central Michigan. The other three, all lumber mills, ceased operation in the early 1900s and were later torn down.

Farwell Mill once bustled with activity, grinding the grain of local farmers and employing 20 of the town’s strongest men, who loaded 100-pound sacks of flour and corn meal onto railroad cars parked on a spur alongside the historic mill.

Fred Siegle, the mill’s owner for more than 70 years, operated the business until he was 94. He died in 1998 at age 97.

“At his age, repair just wasn’t possible,” says Duane, 30, who is busy rebuilding the mill’s turbines when he’s not selling animal feed or tending his own beef cattle.

Since buying the historic mill, the Warners have cleaned the building, rid it of rodents, and replaced broken windows, allowing them to open a small gift shop and sell pre-packaged bird and livestock feed.

Duane has repaired the larger of two turbines (one 45 horsepower, the other 90 horsepower), which now glistens with stainless steel and sports Teflon sleeves. He plans to restore the smaller turbine this winter and hopes to be grinding grain later this year. The turbines are fueled by water diverted from the millpond across the road.

The mill isn’t the first structure the Warners have refurbished. Along with their four children, ages 2 to 10, they live in a 108-year-old farmhouse they purchased and renovated over the last five years. Their devotion to that project and appreciation for history were the reasons for purchasing the mill.

Concern that the mill might be gutted and used for other purposes, or worse yet, be demolished, prompted the Warners to buy the historic building. The couple has received moral support for their efforts from Siegle’s wife.

“We have a lot of support from his family, because we are keeping the mill the way it was intended to be,” Laurie says.

Michigan once boasted 800 mills, but only about 200 remain standing, says Richard Sulin of Rockford, Mich., vice president of the Great Lakes chapter of the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills (SPOOM). When renovation is completed, Farwell Mill will be one of the few still grinding grain, Sulin says.

The Warners are members of SPOOM and use the nonprofit organization for technical assistance in renovating Farwell Mill. Laurie intends to incorporate the historic value of the mill into her classroom curriculum.

Village president Steven Grim appreciates what the Warners are doing to preserve an important part of Farwell’s history. “You hate to see an old landmark go to urbanization and development,” he says.

Judith Karns is a freelance writer in Clio, Mich.

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