Located the on Cedar Creek, the building was constructed in 1855 by Frederick Hilgen and William Schroeder[2][3] to replace a smaller wooden mill from the 1840s.

In 1844, Frederick Hilgen and William Schroeder built a wooden gristmill on the west bank of Cedar Creek in what would become the City of Cedarburg.

By the 1850s, the millers needed a new structure to expand their business, and they employed Burchard Weber to design and build a new, stone mill.

During Wisconsin's "Great Indian Scare" of September 1862, the mill was used as a makeshift fortress by some residents in response to rumors of a Native American uprising in the state.

30,000 men were out of state, serving in the American Civil War, and would not be able to respond to such an uprising inflating residents fears.