Squint Shot 051911

A few weeks back, as I hung around at the village historical collection (just in case anyone wanted to research something), I started looking through some yearbooks.  And I feel a little bit like I struck gold.  In the 1958 Fowlerville School yearbook, there is a picture of the 8th grade officers on swings on the south side of their school building, which now houses the senior citizen center.  In the background of the picture is the grist mill that used to stand on Mill Street where now you will find the fire department building and the Fowlerville Library.

So far, the only picture I had come across of the grist mill was in a 1956 aerial picture, which can be found in my book, The Fowlerville Chronicles.  The original photograph is safely stored in the historical collection.  Finding this ground-level view shows exactly how large that mill really was. 

Following is the 1958 picture as well as a modern-day view which was taken from the south side of the senior citizen center looking westward at the library building:

Since I'm always looking for remembrances of days gone by, I've gotten at least one comment that when that building was burned (intentionally) by the fire department, rats went scurrying in every direction, causing some close-by homeowners some problems.  Does anyone else have memories they would like to share of when the grist mill was still standing?