The mill was built in 1818 by Elias Staley and his brothers, all accomplished millwrights, for John Wrench, who later became Henry Staley's brother-in-law. The mill was sold 7 years after to Henry's brother Elias, one of the builders.

The Staleys' parents, Joseph Staley and wife, settled near Fredericksburg, Md, raising 16 children. The mill was the first building on the property along with the log cabin dwelling. A large bank barn, brick house, a distillery (1831) along with it's accompaning bond houses and drying shed were built after 1820. These were built after the 1820 saw mill (still standing) was constructed.

The mill remains, along with many of the intricate cogs and wheels of the internal workings. The water wheel has rotted away, but a lot of the other machinery is still present. Elias fashioned the cogs and gearing of the mill and continued to operate it through 1866, when at Elias' death, his son Andrew assumed operation. The mill was operated for local farmer's use through 1877, then-on, only for family grinding until 1905 when operations ceased.

The saw mill cut the lumber for the buildings to follow. The mill operated by water that entered the stonewalled portion of the building through an opening. Logs were rolled through the open side onto a track to be cut by the up-and-down saw. Most of the working parts are made of wood, some of rough-cut iron. The mill was not environmentally sound, as the sawdust dropped into the mill race, and hence into the creek. Poto and information from Carol Mumford for an article in Old Mill News, edited by Esther Middlewood.

The farm buildings of the Staley industrial complex, long a pattern for such complexes in early Ohio, consisted of a grist mill, saw mill and a distillery. The distillery processed the excess corn into corn whiskey, much more profitable than corn ground for animal feed or human food; and the saw mill cut the raw lumber from which to fashion barrel staves used by a cooperage (not in the complex) to make the barrels in which to store and age the whiskey.

Flour was also produced, a darker flour which included the middlings, thus providing a product more nutritious with more fiber. Local farmers and Indians used to bring their grain to be ground at the mill, often camping in the meadows overnight towait for their flour or cornmeal. The mill and saw mill still remain along with the brick farmhouse and bank barn in an atttractive setting on Indian Creek.GPS: 39' 57.90N, 84' 04.72W 869'/265 meters Dayton Quadrangle