Commerce Roller Mill

The Commerce Roller Mill, built in 1837 by Amasa Andrews and Joseph and Asa Farr, harnessed the water power of the Huron River. It served the farm communities of western Oakland County for ninety years, closing in 1927. The mill’s owners included Milton Parshall (circa 1900) and Isaac Lutz (circa 1920). With its undershot water wheel, the Commerce mill was the center of commercial activity in the township throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The mill processed flour and ground feed for farmers’ livestock. It was destroyed by fire in 1939. Only the excavations for the mill race, the mill flume and the stone foundations of the mill buildings remain. The site was developed as an interpretive historic area in 1984.