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Grist mills find economic place in Marion history Marion was settled many years ago by people who enjoyed farming and did so with enthusiasm, for the most part. Perhaps mucking out stables wasn't the prime sport of their day, but they did it anyway. Grist mills were an important part of the scene. Grists ground and mixed with corn, wheat, and oats provided the feed for cattle and other livestock. Numerous water-powered mills sprung up on the banks of numerous streams throughout the reaches of this rural land. One of the first mills in Marion was set on the banks of Red Creek, just a stones throw east of Main Street on the Newark-Marion Road. It was built by Nelson Young, about 1820, give or take a year or two. Mill Street was routed along the dam built to form a pond of about 155 acres, which furnished the water to power the water wheel of the mill, also providing a great skating place each winter. The first mill on this site was on the east side of the dam. This mill burned about 1870. The site was abandoned and a new mill was constructed on the south side of the dam on the site of a tannery. It was here that the Marion Roller Mills was sited. The last owner of record was Charles Seybold, dedicated, industrious, resourceful, who made a roaring success of the mill for a lot of years. The archives fail to show that the mill was powered by the flow of water over a water wheel. Apparently the grinding stones were revolved by means of a steam engine. An addition to the main mill building housed the steam boiler and steam-powered engine. In the old country, grist mills were turned with wind power against gigantic blades, a trademark scene of the lowlands of Holland. A display ad appearing in the Marion Enterprise weekly newspaper of Marion by Rollo Curtice depicted a barrel labeled Roller Mills New Process Flour. The name Roller Mills was descriptive of the mechanics of grinding grain between two large steel rollers, instead of large wheels of granite. This would eliminate the crunching down on particles of granite between ones teeth. To me, this would be a step in the right direction, as I never cottoned up to the sensation of granite particles between my teeth, which frequently occurred with the use of granite mill wheels in the making of flour for bread. As a young man, Charles Seybold was a stranger to the milling of grain. He was previously employed as a bookkeeper in the Wayne County Canning Company. He was elevated to superintendent and continued in that capacity until 1909, when he entered into the world of milling with the purchase of the Marion Roller Mills. Charles introduced a new product to the community with the making of Marion Self Rising Pancake Flour. This was readily accepted and distributed throughout the state. The mixing of dairy feed, of course, was a staple sales item of Marion Roller Mills. The brand name was Marion Chief Dairy Feed. It was greatly enhanced by the addition of special equipment for mixing molasses into the dairy feed, enhancing the mixture for livestock. Probably to make it stick to their ribs. Copyright
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