In 1907-1908, Oskar Karlström built the mill. He was born in 1875 and died in 1957. When he was 21 years old, he went to America in 1896 and he returned to Fårö in 1906. The very next year he started his mill construction and he had builder August Norrby from Gammelgarn to help him.
It was a stately mill building that took shape - the largest on Fårö - with a height of six floors and which was outwardly of the same type as the Visby mills Bingeby and Högan.
A lot of Fårö people got work at the mill building and they were paid 2 kroner per day. This was generous because the usual payment at that time was 1:50 per day. The working day was usually 10-12 hours. It can be mentioned that of the Byggelementen had a thickness of 16″x16″ = 4 dm and that tree had been felled at Lansa. Part of the mill's furnishings had been transported from Malmö to Fårö by August Broström with the coster ahead.
At the end of November 1908, the mill was completed. The total cost of the building, machinery and other equipment was SEK 12,000. The mill was equipped with three pairs of stones, a grinding machine and a grain mill. In addition, a sawmill was installed in the building.
The operating energy came from the wings of the mill from 1908 to the year 1930.
The mill's first wings were made of wood but were later replaced (1923-1924) by iron wings. One of the old iron wings is still there and is on the hill not far from the building. It was 20 meters long and weighed 2 tons.
In 1930, the mill got machine operation. A crude oil engine of SEK 35 was then installed.
Adolf Wessman was the mill's miller right from the start in 1908 until 1958, thus for 50 years. Over the years, his son Anselm Wessman also came to participate in the mill work, as did Oskar Kahlström's son, Axel Karlström.
Axel Karlström has proudly told about the mill's grinding capacity. As an example, he mentioned a grinding that was done for Konrad Söderdahl and Hugo Karlström, when 300 kg were ground each for them in one hour, thus 600 kg in total. But then the stones were freshly sharpened, he pointed out.
He also told about the severe thunderstorm that damaged both the mill building and Anselm Wessman. Fortunately, Anselm's injuries were healed, but the mill's beautiful dome was completely destroyed. This happened on August 12, 1944. The dome was replaced with a wooden roof and in 1967 the entire wooden building was demolished to the stone base and the remaining part was given a new roof. The last grinding in the mill was done in 1967.
Source: Gosta Persson & Fårö pension association (SPF) Fårös mills
