It was built in 1808, rebuilt in 1864 after a fire, one year after John Hunt Morgan demanded ransom for every Washington County mill to be spared from burning.

The site of the mill was originally an Indian burial ground, with the Shawnee and Delaware tribes living nearby.

The Indians were presumably displeased when the first white man on the land, George Beck arrived from North Carolina with his sons to the Indiana Territory in 1807, after brief stops in Kentucky.

Descendants of the original owners owned the mill and the surrounding area until November 2005, when the sixth generation became willing to sell.

This gift was the results of the efforts and negotiation of D.Jack Mahuron of Salem, with the hope that the mill could be saved, and maybe even become operational as the centerpiece of a local park.

Mahuron had worked on getting the restoration started for several years, since the owner Estel Larue Allen died in 1982.

[6][9] John Hawkins, an architect from Jeffersonville, Indiana, calculated that $600,000 would be required to restore the mill, with additional funds needed to reopen it.

William and Gayle Cook, billionaire philanthropists, made a large donation of approximately $1,200,000.00 in 2007 to begin the restoration process.

Jack Mahuron had served on the Board of Advisers of IU Southeast with Bill Cook and knew that he and Gayle were interested in Beck's Mill.

The first task was to remove the old equipment, tools, and the remaining features of the general store and fabric-making, including two carding machines.

[6] The Washington County Chamber of Commerce gave their 2007 Citizen of the Year award to the Friends, due to the restoration of the mill.

[11] Beck's Mill is set to be reopened for the public on September 20, 2008, to coincide with the Old Settler's Days festival in Salem.

Over a three-year period and on weekends the hikers built over three mile of trails for the public to use and enjoy Sinking Spring, the bluffs, the Quarry and the natural beauty of the park.