Broadway Park: Renewing Ann Arbor's Public Riverfront

Milling was the first industrial use of the Huron River. Mills included a grist mill, woolen mills, and the largest, a flour mill. It was built by Anson Brown in 1826 when he dammed the river, and was run by several different families for the next sixty-six years. During this time, both the mill and the dam were named Argo.

The Argo flour mill on the Huron River.

In 1892, the Swift family began operating the grain mill and its dam as the Ann Arbor Milling Company, (later calling it the Michigan Milling Company) and ran the mill until1903, when it was destroyed by fire. When the 20th century brought the advent of electricity, the Michigan Milling Company decided to replace the mill with an electric powerhouse (renamed Argo). Two years later, in 1905, Eastern Michigan Edison Company, (which later becomes Detroit Edison), bought the powerhouse, rebuilt it and began to construct additional dams up and down the Huron River.