Construction of the Old Dutch Mill began in 1847 by Frederick Fischer and was completed in 1850 on its present site. When the Mount Emblem Cemetery Association purchased the property in 1925, the mill was reconditioned for preservation. Built over three years with handhewn, handcut, handcarved, and handpegged parts, it stood five stories high on a strong stone foundation, with a white pine framework and white oak and hickory cogwheels and shafts. Its eighty-foot wings, mounted to a beam of four handhewn timbers, operated entirely by windpower, with canvas sails turned into the wind by a revolving upper section, windlass, and roller. A friction brake-band and a fourth-floor fly-governor controlled stopping, starting, and speed, even automatically braking the machinery in dangerously strong winds. Inside, a track system and small car moved grain and flour, while corn was first crushed in a cornsheller, lifted by bucket conveyor to third-floor bins, screened, sent by chutes to the second floor for grinding, and then passed to the first floor and a lean-to sifter with four grades of silk. Depending on the wind, the mill produced twenty to forty barrels a day, and its shaker mechanism for regulating grain into the stones worked on the same principle later used in modern flour production. Regarded as a landmark since 1950, the Old Dutch Mill was preserved as an educational exhibit and received a 1956 Award of Honor from the DuPage Historical Society for its preservation.
