From the History of Ionia and Montcalm Counties by John S. Schenck - 1881:

     The first saw mill in the township was built by G. L. Dean in the fall of 1865, and commenced sawing the following winter.  The one now stanting (in 1881) is the fourth on this site, three others having been burned.
     In 1868, John Hitchcock opened a drygoods store near this mill, which was purchased the following year by William M. Thomas, who has since built a grist mill in the south part of Evergreen township.

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     Dean's Mills appears to have been located about 2 1/2 miles west of Vickeryville at the intersection of Sessions and Town Hall roads.  See the 1875 Bushnell Township Map on the township site.