Weipert’s Mill and the Sebewa Pond

Andrew Weipert was born in Germany circa 1834. He built a gristmill and dam in 1876 on the site of where Melvin Rogers and Charles Ingalls had previously had such an operation. (Melvin Rogers may have continued his interest in the mill as Weipert’s partner.) The mill was located on the Sebewa Creek just below Jacob Collingham’s sawmill. This would place the mill at the corner of Bippley Hwy. and Keefer Rd., in Sebewa Township or approximately 1 mile north of Sebewa Corners.

The gristmill ground cornmeal, wheat flour, buckwheat flour, graham and feed grinding. In 1886 Mr. Weipert encountered bad luck when the dam near the mill was washed out. He repaired the dam but it was washed out twice again within the next several years. In 1896 he went to Mecosta Co. to seek an interest in a mill but returned to Sebewa in 1899 to resume work on his mill. He operated the Weipert Mill until he died in 1903 at the age of 69 due to a stroke. His obituary stated that he was an “Honest German Man”. The mill was later under the successive management of John Benedict, Harry Gibson and a Mr. Merritt (Frank M. Merritt?) Note; Frank M. Merritt was born in Eaton Co. in 1878, and purchased the Sunfield Sentinel in 1905. Therefore he would have been anywhere from 25-27 years old after Weipert’s death and the purchase of the newspaper.

A newspaper advertisement from 1911-12, indicated that the proprietor at that time was John W. Benedict. The advertisement stated that he used “the old stone process”, with “feed grinding at 7 cents per cwt” (hundred weight or 100 lbs.). Apparently, little in the way of improvements to the mill were made until Frank O’Brian took over in the 1930’s. At which time he reworked the mill to operational form. Since O’Brian a number individuals have owned the mill (and/or the property). However, the property has deteriorated through time, and several fires have destroyed buildings including O’Brain’s home.

Tom’s Tie-In: When I was a little boy growing up on our farm, I went a few times to the old mill with my mother. As I remember it, she would bring several bushels of our apples up to the mill where they had a “cider press”. We would bring our own gallon bottles, which were then filled with the “oh so fragrant juice”. I have no idea who ran the mill at that time (probably mid-late 50’s) or how much was charged for this services (I bet it wasn’t much!). Nevertheless, I do remember going into Weipert’s mill to watch.

A local man recently stated on Facebook, “In the late 60’s I use to explore this old mill. At the time, the basement was full of old machinery and some very large saw blades, maybe 4 foot in diameter. There were many manuals and I think they were auto related laying all over the place. I heard stories that Henry Ford bought parts that were manufactured there for his company. The machinery that I saw would indicate that it was a machine shop of some type. Maybe even wooden parts were made for his cars. I wished I had taken pictures of all this.” (Note: This machinery was probably in the basement of one of the out building on the property that was later taken by fire.)

In October of 1979, the old mill was placed on the Michigan Register of Historic Buildings. Mr. Robert Gierman of Portland played a substantial role in garnering this recognition.

This piece was originally written for the Portland Area Historical Society. Republished with permission.