The building on the left (Am Mühlgraben 45, place list 28) is our old mill of the village. The mill was first mentioned in our chronicle in 1570 in connection with the “Oeder” maps, that had been created by the cartographer Matthias Oeder in the 16^th Century. However, the mill had been erected a lot earlier, probably already in the 14^th or 15^th Century. The mill is said to have been one of the three buildings that did not burn down at the retreat of the Swedish during the Thirty Years’ War. Peter Grahl is mentioned as the mill’s first owner in 1649.

The mill contained two millstones and a top-sheave waterwheel. The “Mühlgraben” branched off the Höckenbach brook, where once the Kirchner’s forge was located (Information board 11). In the directory of Ruppendorf of 1903/04 Ernst Flathe is mentioned as the mill’s and bakery’s owner. The milling was probably canceled with the death of the miller around 1928. After that the “Mühlgraben” was filled up.

A list of trade businesses mentions a baker at the Flathe mill in 1929 who died in 1945. Erich Kästner was the husband of Frieda, the daughter of Ernst Flathe. When Erich Kästner joined the military the bakery was closed. The mill is named after the last miller’s family that has run the mill for four generations.

The owners of the mill have been:

• Ebert Michael 1655
• Zöllner Michael 1668
• Wolff Samuel 1691
• Wolff Samuel 1710
• Zimmermann Georg, Gottlieb 1717
• Zimmermann Daniel, Gottlieb 1750
• Zimmermann Daniel, Gottlieb 1764
• Zimmermann Daniel, Gottlieb 1782
• Zimmermann Friedrich, Benjamin 1832
• Kunze Carl, Traugott 1838
• Aestels Carl, August 1838
• Richter Johann, Gott., Ernst
• Flathe Christian, Friedrich 1841
• Flathe Friedrich, Wilhelm 1863
• Flathe Henriette, Auguste 1874
• Flathe Ernst, Wilhelm 1874
• Kästner Frieda, Emilie 1931