David Brown constructed this one-and-a-half-story gable-roofed stone and frame gristmill beside Opequon Creek to replace the c. 1738 mill built by settler Jost Hite. The complex derives its name from Springdale, the house of Colonel John Hite (FR36) located across Valley Pike. Although the mill ceased operations in 1970, it retains its early-twentieth-century working machinery. The Springdale Mill complex also includes two houses, one of log and one of stone—both probably millers' houses. The mill was sold to the Barton family in the 1820s and this small industrial community came to be known as Bartonsville.