In 1851, Jacob Houtz, James Porter, and Edward Hall built and operated a flour mill near here, and Norton Jacobs, the first miller, made and installed the machinery. In 1860, Jacob Houtz and William Bringhurst built a woolen mill one third mile north west. In 1863, with the aid of William Jackson Stewart, cotton looms were installed, using cotton from Dixie. The mill was sold to James Whitemead in 1880, who changed it to a woolen mill. The mill operated until destroyed by fire in 1914.