Cedarburg Mill
The Cedarburg Mill is a historic five-story stone gristmill in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, built along Cedar Creek in 1855. Frederick Hilgen and William Schroeder financed the project, with design by architect Burchard Weber, to replace an earlier wooden mill from the 1840s. The new building cost about $22,000 and could produce about 120 barrels of flour each day, which Hilgen and Schroeder sold across the street at their store.
Construction began with the east wing, followed by the main building. A large earthen ramp was used to move locally quarried stone to higher levels as the mill rose in stages.
At the time it was completed, the mill was the tallest building in Cedarburg. It has a notable place in local history, including during the 1862 Great Indian Scare when residents used the mill as a makeshift fortress amid false rumors of an uprising. The town survived the scare, even as many men were away fighting in the Civil War. In 1881 Cedar Creek flooded, but the mill dam was the only one to endure that year.
Ownership changed several times: John Grundke bought the mill in 1882, and in 1901 it passed to Christian, Louis, and William Ruck. Louis Ruck became the sole owner in 1913, and the dam and pond still carry the Ruck name. In 1930 the Cedarburg Supply Company bought the mill, converting it from hydropower to electric power. The property is now owned by Landmark Supply Company.
The Cedarburg Mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 8, 1974.
From the 1950s to the early 1970s, waste oil containing PCBs from the Mercury Marine plant polluted the millpond and Cedar Creek downstream. Cedar Creek was designated an EPA Superfund site in 1994, and the pond was dredged to remove contaminated sediments. In 2016, further PCB cleanup occurred in the mill race.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:20 (CET).