# Graue Mill > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Graue_Mill > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Graue_Mill.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graue_Mill > Source revision: 1356426333 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) The **Graue Mill** is a water-powered grist mill that was originally erected in 1852. Now a museum, it is one of two operating water-powered [gristmills](/source/Gristmills) in [Illinois](/source/Illinois) (the other is the Franklin Creek Grist Mill). It is located on [Salt Creek](/source/Salt_Creek_(Des_Plaines_River_Tributary)) in [Oak Brook, Illinois](/source/Oak_Brook,_Illinois), owned and operated by the [Forest Preserve District of DuPage County](/source/Forest_Preserve_District_of_DuPage_County). ## History Friedrich Graue, born in [Germany](/source/Germany), emigrated to the United States in the late 1840s. Changing his name to 'Frederick', he brought with him knowledge of the craft of waterwheel gristmilling. Settling in what was the farming village and early transportation [hub](/source/Transport_hub) of Fullersburg, Illinois, formerly named Brush Hill, he and William Asche (whose brother-in-law, Henry Fischer, built a wind-powered grist mill in what is now [Mount Emblem Cemetery](/source/Mount_Emblem_Cemetery)) filed claim in 1849 to a tract of damp, [clay](/source/Clay)-rich bottomland along the banks of Salt Creek that was home to a [sawmill](/source/Sawmill) that burned down the year before. Together they built a new sawmill. They together operated this mill for three years, until Graue decided to engage in the milling business on his own. Digging ditches in the poorly drained soil, he and his family recovered clay that could be used to make bricks. The Graues built a kiln on their [farmstead](/source/Farmstead), fired the bricks, and slowly raised the new structure and [waterwheel](/source/Waterwheel) into place from the on-site building materials. The mill went into operation in the summer of 1852.[2] The ditching and draining of the Graue Mill farmstead was typical of [German-American](/source/German-American) settlement patterns in the Midwest in the 1840s and 1850s, as the [thrifty](/source/Frugality) German emigrants found assets in tracts of land that had been left behind by earlier, English-speaking frontiersmen and women. Graue could not build his entire mill from onsite materials. He bought four [buhrstones](/source/Millstone) that turned on water-driven axles to grind locally grown [corn](/source/Maize) and [wheat](/source/Wheat). Quarried in [France](/source/France), the buhrstones, a type of [millstone](/source/Millstone), were carefully dressed by specially trained craftsmen so as to form two level, gritty surfaces that would pulverize the grain between them.[3] Graue and his family were [Pietist](/source/Pietist) Germans who opposed [American slavery](/source/American_slavery). The mill is one of three Illinois stops on the [Underground Railroad](/source/Underground_Railroad), the [subversive](/source/Subversive) movement that helped fugitive slaves escape from the [American South](/source/American_South) to [Canada](/source/Canada).[2] ## Today The Graue Mill operated in eastern DuPage County under three generations of the Graue family for approximately 60 years. In the 1910s, advances in milling technology, particularly the invention of steel [rolling mills](/source/Rolling_mills), drove the old mill out of business. The [derelict](/source/Abandonment_(legal)#Abandonment_of_property) mill was restored by the [Civilian Conservation Corps](/source/Civilian_Conservation_Corps) in 1934–1943, and was opened to the public as a working historic site in 1951.[3] As DuPage County became urbanized in the second half of the 20th century, the mill's surroundings lost their agricultural context. The mill building itself, however, was honored as a survivor from Illinois post-frontier years. The Graue Mill was listed on the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places) in 1975, and was recognized as a [Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark](/source/Historic_Mechanical_Engineering_Landmark) in 1981. The mill has been periodically re-restored since 1943 to keep it in operating condition, including work completed in 2002.[3] The Graue Mill is located at 3800 S. York Road, on the banks of Salt Creek in [Oak Brook](/source/Oak_Brook,_Illinois), Illinois, and is surrounded by [Fullersburg](/source/Fullersburg,_Illinois) woods. It is currently open to the public; check the Graue Mill and Museum website for dates and times of operation. The Graue Mill is also nearby to [Salt Creek Trail](/source/Salt_Creek_Trail), a trail that follows the path of Salt Creek from Itasca to Brookfield. Recognizing the water quality and habitat impairments caused by run of the river dams, the DuPage River Salt Creek Workgroup and Forest Preserve District of DuPage County retained Hey to complete design and permitting necessary to implement the Master Plan for Salt Creek at Fullersburg Woods. The project includes removing a 6’ tall by 120’ wide dam in its entirety and restoring 1.5 miles of riffles, pools, and floodplain wetlands. Additional project enhancements include motorizing the Graue Mill water wheel (grinding stones in the mill will continue to be powered by an existing electric motor), a pump system to provide water in the mill’s sluiceway, waterproofing a floodwall near the Fullersburg Nature Center, and several scenic overlooks. An improved trail connection below the York Road bridge over Salt Creek and canoe/kayak launch was also designed for a related project. Dam removal was completed in December 2023, and ## References 1. "Recreation/Entertainment: Graue Mill", Village of Oak Brook, accessed March 13, 2007. [\[1\]](http://www.oak-brook.org/dep_recreaton/graue_mill.shtml) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070514012529/http://www.oak-brook.org/dep_recreaton/graue_mill.shtml) 2007-05-14 at the Wayback Machine 1. "History of the Graue Mill and Museum", DuPage Graue Mill Corporation/[Forest Preserve District of DuPage County](/source/Forest_Preserve_District_of_DuPage_County), accessed March 13, 2007. [\[2\]](http://www.oak-brook.org/dep_recreaton/graue_mill.shtml) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070514012529/http://www.oak-brook.org/dep_recreaton/graue_mill.shtml) 2007-05-14 at the Wayback Machine ## External links - [Graue Mill and Museum, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County](https://www.dupageforest.org/places-to-go/centers/graue-mill-and-museum) - [Fullersburg Woods Nature Education Center](https://web.archive.org/web/20110307024946/http://www.dupageforest.com/Education/Centers/Fullersburg_Woods_Nature_Education_Center.html) - [Fullersburg Historic District, Fullersburg Historic Foundation](http://www.fullersburg.org/) - [Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce](https://web.archive.org/web/20110711170537/http://www.hinsdalechamber.com/community.aspx/) - [Oak Brook Historic Timeline](http://www.oakbrookhistory.com/timeline/index.php/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110714223206/http://www.oakbrookhistory.com/timeline/index.php/) 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine - ["Chapter 11: Hinsdale" by Shirley Stitt in *DuPage Roots* by editors, Stephen A. Thompson and Contributors](http://www.dupagehistory.org/dupage_roots/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160624125541/http://www.dupagehistory.org/dupage_roots/) 2016-06-24 at the Wayback Machine - ["Chapter 16: Oak Brook" by Etta Susan Chapek in *DuPage Roots* by editors, Stephen A. Thompson and Contributors](http://www.dupagehistory.org/dupage_roots/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160624125541/http://www.dupagehistory.org/dupage_roots/) 2016-06-24 at the Wayback Machine --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Graue Mill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graue_Mill) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graue_Mill?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.