Beck Mill History

Constructed entirely from materials harvested from the surrounding hillsides by Aaron Headin Beck, the Beck Mill was both a grist and saw mill which provided ground corn and building materials for families of Delaware and surrounding counties. Now, time and nature’s elements have taken their toll on the mill and your help is needed to save this proud sentinel of Cherokee heritage.

The original mill on this site was constructed in the 1840s by Jeremiah C. Towers. It was a grist mill and served the Cherokee people as they were creating a new nation in the west. To build the mill, Towers created a raceway carved from solid sandstone and ordered marble corn and wheat millstones from France. The millstones were shipped to New Orleans, then up the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers, and hauled overland by oxen to Flint Creek.

The second owner of the mill, Stephen Hildebrand, expanded the size of the raceway and added a saw mill prior to the Civil War. The mill was then known as Hildebrand’s Mills and it provided ground grain and lumber for both the Union and Confederate armies as well as the numerous refugees in the area.

In 1892 the mill met its match when a flood destroyed the building, taking with it a tide of memories, all entwined with the history of the Cherokee people. The present Beck Mill is three stories and replaces the original mill. A water turbine ordered from Rome, Georgia, powered the grist and saw mills until 1935 when grist milling ceased and a gasoline engine was installed to continue sawmill operations. The saw mill cut its last lumber in 1967.

The Beck Mill now awaits restoration to full operation, preserving a part of Cherokee heritage and the history of the state of Oklahoma.