Paint Creek Cider Mill / Needham Hemingway Mill Site

Col. Needham Hemingway migrated from New York state to the Michigan Territory in 1825, and built a grist mill on this site along Paint Creek in 1835. A small hamlet—later to be named Goodison—grew up around the water-powered mill, which was later operated by Hemingway's sons, Freeman and Henry. William Goodison bought the Hemingway mill in 1866, and it continued to grind grain for over a century, passing through the hands of a succession of owners. The mill's last operator was Maurice Collins, who took over in 1916 and ran it as a grist mill and cider operation until his death in 1941.

Samuel Durant's 1877 History of Oakland County said this of the Hemingway mill:

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In 1835, Needham Hemingway built a dam across Paint creek, on section 28, and dug a race three-fourths of a mile long to the east line of the same section, where he constructed a two-story frame building, twenty-six by fifty-six feet, for a grist-mill. He put in two run of stones, and, although the machinery was "home-made" to a large extent, the mill did good work, and bad a very fair reputation. It passed out of the hands of Mr. Hemingway a few years after, and has since then had a number of owners. It is now the property of William Goodison, who built an addition of eighteen feet to the length in 1876. He also supplied it with modern machinery, so that it is now an excellent mill. It is at present, and has always been, the only grist-mill in the township.

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The old Hemingway mill sat idle and in a state of disrepair for a few years, until local industrialist Dale O. Miller Sr. purchased the property in 1945. Miller had hoped to restore the old mill, but found the structure too badly decayed, so he began dismantling it in 1953. Miller then decided to built a cider mill on the property and hired the architectural firm of Giffels & Vallet, L. Rossetti to do the design work for the new structure, which he envisioned as a tourist destination. Salvaged timbers that Miller had saved from the Hemingway mill were incorporated into the new building as support beams, and other salvaged materials from area buildings were also used in the new building. Beginning in 1958, the cider mill's wheelhouse was built, followed by the cider mill. In 1968, the final portion of the building was constructed, serving as a "bridge" to link the wheelhouse portion of the building to the cider mill portion. For a few years, Miller leased part of the building to an antiques shop.

The Miller family sold the property to William G. "Jerry" Mansour in 1976, and the Mansour family operated the cider mill for the next two decades and opened Oakland Township's first restaurant in the wheelhouse in 1983. Ray Nicholson bought the property from the Mansours in 1996, and in 2005 he donated the site to Oakland Township. The township uses part of the building for offices and leases the cider mill portion of the building to a restaurateur who operates the Paint Creek Cider Mill café there.

In 2019, Oakland Township dedicated a Michigan Historical Marker detailing the history of the Paint Creek Cider Mill. An earlier Michigan Historical Marker adjacent to the site, dedicated in 2002, interprets the history of the Paint Creek Mill Race used by Needham Hemingway in pioneer days.

United States of America to Needham Hemingway, 6 January 1826, west half of the northeast quarter of Section 28, Township 4N 11E, in the District of Detroit, Territory of Michigan, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, certificate no. 1527, Michigan v.4, p.17.

Durant, Samuel W. History of Oakland County, Michigan. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1877. p. 251.

"The mill property of William Goodison, deceased, has been sold...," Pontiac Gazette, June 24, 1881, p.8.

“Goodison Building Restoration Will Be Dining Hall, Cider Mill,” Rochester Clarion, January 7, 1960.

"What's New in Cider: Old Mill Modernized," Detroit Times, August 25, 1960, p.NW-7.

Eicher, Marjorie. "A Sip of Cider, a Glimpse of the Past," Detroit Free Press, September 23, 1962.

“Goodison History Centers on Mill,” Pontiac Press, June 13, 1969.

Kingsbury, Annette. "Making Cider the Old Fashioned Way," Oxford Leader, September 12,1990, p.2.

Almond, Mary Beth. "Paint Creek Cider Mill Earns State Historical Marker," Rochester Post, October 29, 2019.

Kelly, Delta, and Barbara Kandarian, ed. Heritage and Oakland Township. Rochester, Mich.: Oakland Township Historical Society, 1976.