Flat Creek Mills was a trading post and election precinct many years before present Berrien County was created in 1856. Officers of the new county were sworn in here, and because there was no courthouse, the first Inferior Court was held here in the unfinished barn of W.D. Griffin, owner of the mills at that time. The next year the barn was finished and in use, so court was held across the creek in the home of Mr. Ham, who moved his beds and other furniture out for the purpose.