The Old Cotton Oil Mill was the first local industrial plant, processing cottonseed into cake, meal, hulls, and oil. Built in 1909-10 by Bird, Hall & Mertz of San Angelo, it gave the city a good payroll, a work whistle marking times of day, and a good aroma. Stone for the millhouse was quarried at the Posey farm on Gap Creek southeast of the city. It was owned by Herman Giesecke and Associates of Ballinger from 1911 to 1927, then by Anderson, Clayton and Co. of Houston. The mill closed in 1939 after cotton farming declined.