Program

Great American Rail-Trail

Subject

Building, Site

Location

33 Pleasant St, Oxford, MI 48371, USA

Lat/Long

42.826651302387, -83.269225714012

Grant Recipient

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

Oxford Mills was founded in 1913 by D. E. Cummings in the village of Oxford, Michigan, on Pleasant Street beside the Pontiac, Oxford & Northern Railroad. Later that year, an ordinance granted Cummings the right to install electric lines to power the mill, marking its place as a modern industrial operation serving the local community.

From its beginning, the mill produced flour, feed, and other related products. Farmers brought their wheat to be ground into flour, while local grocers sold the mill’s “strictly high grade” buckwheat flour. In 1915, a large-capacity grinder was installed, allowing feed to be produced more quickly and saving farmers valuable time.

Ownership changed around 1916 when Cummings sold the mill to Michael A. Kamm, who renamed it M. A. Kamm Feed and Grain. Kamm continued production and marketed his own brand, “New Era Flour.” In 1917, the mill introduced a program to support local farmers, offering discounted flour and feed in exchange for wheat. For each bushel of good milling wheat, farmers received 40 pounds of flour and 8 pounds of bran or middlings, a price significantly below that of Spring Wheat Flour, helping to reduce the cost of living.

The business expanded beyond flour and feed to include grain, seeds, salt, and fertilizer. After Michael Kamm’s death in 1950, his son inherited the mill and adapted it to meet the needs of the growing suburban market. In 1972, the mill was sold to the Oxford Co-operative Elevator Company, marking another transition in its long history.

Decades later, in 2022, the site entered a new chapter when White Pine Coffee Roasters moved into the original grain storage building. In doing so, they preserved key elements of the structure, including one of Kamm’s grain silos and the original pine pillars and walls, maintaining a visible link to the building’s past. As of 2026, the site remains connected to the community, with the nearby Polly Ann Trail running alongside it.