A reminder of Kansas’s early pioneer days and the waves of immigration that defined American expansion, the Old Dutch Mill in Smith Center, Kansas is a link between Old World Europe, American farm life, and the rise of historic preservation in the 20th century. The mill’s story begins far from Kansas. Charles G. Schwarz was born in Grauenhagen, Germany, in 1840, and moved to Kansas in pursuit of work in 1873. Although promised a job, he and his family found the mill closed, and decided to purchase a modest homestead…
