History

"The Tintes Mill is one of the remotest mills in our country and it is precisely this abandoned location that makes it a witness to a bygone age when people shunned no effort or hardship to find a source of water power and make it serve them."

(Emile Erpelding in: De Cliärrwer Kanton 1985/1)

In 1853, Peter Schroeder (1805-1896) built his mill with a residential house and outbuildings on his property, which was situated on the banks of the River Our. He descended from the house of Tintes in Kalbom, which was first mentioned in official records in 1535. This gave rise to the name Tintesmühle.

Peter Schroeder leased the mill to his son, Johann Schroeder (1831-1886), on 22 July 1863. Pierre Schroeder (1865-1935) came into possession of the mill on 23 December 1896 through an unusual division of the inheritance, as his father Johann died 10 years before his grandfather Peter. His son Jean-Pierre Schroeder (1904-1973) later inherited the mill.

The mill, which was shut down in 1953, has been owned by husband and wife Bertemes-Schroeder since 1972. (Germaine Schroeder is the daughter of Jean-Pierre Schroeder).

The mill had 3 top-shafted water wheels with a diameter of about 2 metres and a rotor span of 1 metre. This was used to drive 3 different grinds and producing flour for bread as well as animal feed meal and buckwheat. Starting in 1914, water power was used to drive a dynamo to light the house and stables.

There was also a small farm in addition to the mill at all times.

Since the house was constructed, it has undergone two known major structural alterations - in 1885 and 1909. Later, the mill was so severely damaged during the Ardennes Offensive that it only served to generate electricity from 1945 to 1953 and to grind meal for cattle until 1958.

An inn was added to the mill in 1906. To complement this, a decision was taken in 1972 to open a campsite. Reconstruction took place in 1976, turning the rooms of the mill into a restaurant.

In 1908, two-year-old François Schroeder (1906-1991) fell into the canal above the mill. He was driven with the water over a mill wheel and then floated away on a covered canal. Fortunately, it was possible to fish the young boy out alive at the end of the 8-metre-long tunnel.

• Peter Schroeder – Anne-Marie Leysen (1853 – 1863)
• Johann Schroeder – Katharina Helten (1863 – 1896)
• Pierre Schroeder – Marie-Elisabeth Breuer (1896 – )
• Jean-Pierre Schroeder – Suzanne Kremer ( – 1972)
• Arsene Bertemes – Germaine Schroeder (1972 – )