Messer/Mayer Mill

Messer/Mayer Mill. Village of Richfield, Wisconsin. The Messer/Mayer Mill is a three and one-half story, front-gabled grist mill on a raised fieldstone foundation and sheathed with narrow clapboard siding. The interior contains the original milling equipment dating from 1873 to the early 20th century, much of which was supplied by the Edward P. Allis Company of Milwaukee. First floor equipment includes Allis provided millstones and roller mills. Flour sifting, bolting, and grain storage bins are located on the second floor. George T. Smith middling purifiers, enabling production of high-grade white “Alaska Patent Flour,” are on the third floor. Machines and equipment related to the Oliver Evans’ grain elevator system and the James Leffel and Company turbine are in the basement., The Messer/Mayer Mill, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, contributed to the early industrial and commercial growth of the Town of Richfield at Pleasant Hill. The mill produced flour into the 1930s and was the only grist mill in the Town of Richfield between 1879 and 1925. The cattle feed grinding business operated out of the mill from the late 1890s until 1954., The property includes an intact 19th century homestead and a number of outbuildings all constructed by the Messer and Mayer families.