Graue Mill Provides Unique Perspective Into Modern Conveniences

Independence Day gives many people a nice long summer weekend in which to relax, enjoy the weather and have some outdoor fun with the family.

This weekend there are plenty of fun things to do to keep cool, but we took our fun to the basement of one of the legendary Underground Railroad stops to learn more about an historic landmark.

in Oak Brook is a waterwheel gristmill that dates back to the 1850s. Frederick Graue, the owner, purchased the land and began to make bricks for the building using clay from the Graue Farm and a kiln on site.

The total number of bricks used to make the building tops a quarter of a million, according to our tour guide. That’s a lot of handmade bricks!

The timber used to make the mill was local as well, coming from a tract of land located along the I&M Canal near Lemont. The mill took five years to construct and is still standing today. It is powered by the Salt Creek, which runs along the mill. Water turns the wheel, and kept the mill running for 70 years while it was in use.

Recognized as an Illinois Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1981, Graue Mill is the only local gristmill to receive such distinction.

The special wheels used to grind the corn, wheat and other local crops are called burhstone. The four one-ton burhstones used at the mill were imported from France.

On the tour, the children were allowed to use different methods for milling corn, just to get an idea of how hard it was to make food in the 19^th Century. If someone needed to feed a family of five, they would have to grind five cups of corn by hand, which was no easy task.

The basement of the mill was used to house runaway slaves in the period before the Civil War, when slaves risked their lives to escape to freedom in the North.

DuPage County boasts many Underground Railroad stations and the basement of Graue Mill is one of them. Other sites include Wheaton College, the Filer House in Glen Ellyn, the Peck House in Lombard, and the Blodgett Home in Downers Grove. The site was situated in a place that made it a good stop for “railroad” travelers from the South, Southwest and West to converge.

The historic site is in the DuPage County Forest Preserve District. It was fully restored in 1943, but has never been operational. It is used as a museum and a way to preserve the history of milling in Illinois. Stepping inside the mill and museum are like stepping into the past.

The museum also exhibits the process of spinning and weaving, and houses replicas of kitchens, bedrooms and living spaces in homes from the 19^th Century.

Graue Mill is a nice reminder, especially on Independence Day, of all of the modern conveniences that we take for granted on a daily basis: indoor plumbing, our basic human rights and processed grain, to name a few.