Millstones ground grain in grist or flour mills, with a runner stone rotating above a stationary stone as grain was fed through center openings and grooves in the dress pattern sheared and crushed it. Millstones were generally made from one massive piece of stone, but as quarries became depleted, smaller chunks were cemented together and bound with an iron band. This grindstone came from Greenville’s first mill, built in 1851 by Nathanial Slaght and Abel French on the northeast side of the Franklin Street dam. E. Middleton and Sons bought the mill in the late 1850s and in the following decades developed it into one of the county’s most extensive manufacturing enterprises. In 1872, a five-story mill was built along Lafayette Street, and a smaller one followed later. The grain came exclusively from Montcalm and surrounding counties, and the flour produced was considered among the best in the country, with large amounts exported to England, Scotland, and Ireland.