Schuyler Mill – Ford Soybean Plant Complex

In 1845, David Schuyler Haywood constructed a gristmill at this site[2] on the western edge of Saline, Michigan.[3] A small settlement, Barnegat, soon coalesced around the mill site; Barnegat was annexed by the village of Saline in 1848.[4] However, by 1865, business declined, and the mill was soon closed.[5]

Henry Ford purchased the site in 1936,[6] refurbished it, and opened it as a soybean processing plant in 1938.[2] The site employed up to 19 people,[2] who removed the soybean oil from the beans, which was processed into plastics and paint.[3] The residuals were used to make casting cores or for cattle feed.[3] In 1943, Ford moved a one-room Greek Revival schoolhouse to the site and refurbished it as a residence.[5] However, the plant was closed in 1947, not long after Henry Ford's death.[2]

After its closure, the building was used by a private soybean processing firm.[2] However, the processing equipment was soon obsolete,[5] and in 1962, the property was turned into an antique shop and general store, know first as the "Sauk Trail Inn".[7] and later as "Weller's Country Store."[6] More recently, part of the structure has been used as a cafe[2] and a banquet facility.[5]

The Schuyler Mill/Ford Soybean Plant Complex sits on 11-1/2 acres in a park-like setting.[5] It consists primarily of the original 1845 mill and the ancillary fieldstone-lined millrace.[5] The mill is a three-story timber-framed gable-roofed Greek Revival building covered with clapboard. A smaller two-story wing sits to one side; it is flanked by two single-story wings.[5] Across the street sits a modern residence built around the old schoolhouse.[5]

In addition, Ford built four more structures: a Greek Revival-style extractor plant and a pump house near the mill, and two storage buildings near the mill. In addition, Ford constructed a dam and spillway at the mill pond.

• Weller's Weddings