In the summer of 1852, Frederick Graue started his gristmill for the first time. Graue and his family, German immigrants, operated the waterwheel powered mill for 60 years, grinding wheat, corn and other grains produced by local farmers near the town of Fullersburg, Illinois.
Several years after the mill had closed it was added to the properties of the Dupage County Forest Preserve. Fullersburg, known as Hinsdale, saw its residents come together and repair the mill. Opening as a museum in 1951, the old mill now houses a collection of artifacts from the 1850-1890’s. Volunteers dress in period clothing to demonstrate the arts of spinning, weaving, churning butter, milling, and other activities in the lifestyle of early Fullersburg.
The cellar of Graue Mill was also a regular stop on the Underground Railroad, with President Lincoln reportedly visiting Graue on a trip from Chicago to Springfield, Illinois. The mill is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and is also the only gristmill, on a national level, to be recognized as an engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.