In 1854 Joseph Sibley and Manlius Mann took out a mortage for $10,000 to have Horatio Hall build the Gothic style flour mill. It measures 45 feet long, 35 feet wide, with a 16/12 steeply pitched roof. It was built before the Oliver Evan's vertical elevator, thus the series of doors along the west side of the building. There was once a hoist installed in the gable of the roof to be used to lift the
grain sacks to the appropriate level for the refining process needed. The basement stone walls are 19 feet high and approximatly 3 feet thick. The mortised and tenoned timbers are as large as 14"x14". In 1873 Hiram Ovenshire took over the mill and remodeled and enlarged it. The ownership of the mill passed down through his family until it was closed in 1958. It had been in the Ovenshire/ Hollenbeck/ Butler family for 85 years. Then it suffered about 20 years of deteroiration and vandalism. The townspeople were debating about tearing it down or restoring it - however they did have it registered in 1970 as a State and National Historical Site. William Stockhausen, who had been a mechanical engineer at Ford Motor Co. for years, was inspired by Henry Ford's Village Industries renewable energies and was fascinated with the water-powered factories. He convinced his wife Carole Jean Stockhausen to search through about 250 old mills, hydros, and dam sites in Michigan and finially chose Bellevue as the site to settle on. The bought the mill for $3,000 in 1977 and within 5 years had the exterior restored and producing power. It has been under constant restoration and renovation by the Stockhausen family and friends until present day. They hope that one day it will be able to be a meeting spot for families and groups alike.
