A group of business owners in Brussels has acquired the local mill with the goal of making it into a museum.
The group includes Doug Sholdice, Jim Lee, and Kevin Riddell of Brussels and Ralph Laviolette of the Huron County Historical Society, and calls itself the Maitland Mills Association.
The Logan Mill was transferred to the association from the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority, with the support of the Brussels Community Development Trust.
Association Chair Ralph Laviolette says gaining ownership is the first step in the goal to revitalize the mill as a space to highlight the work of millers across Huron County.
"When Maitland Valley Conservation Authority owned the mill, we couldn’t legally repurpose the mill as an outside group," he said. "With that ownership issue settled, we can now move forward with structural assessment and fundraising, and we plan to use equipment retrieved from two mills that were built in the 1850s and closed in the 1960s."
The group has also been curating artifacts from other area mills.
Laviolette next year will be a big one for the association, as both revitalization work and fundraising can begin in earnest now that its gained status from the Canada Revenue Agency.
"We've been granted charitable status, so we can move forward full-speed ahead with fundraising and structural modifications. It’s an exciting project," he said.
The target to have self-guided tour museum open is late 2027.
