The mill was constructed around 1853 by James Little, an entrepreneur and the local postmaster at the time.  It began to process wheat into flour in 1857, and remained in operation until the early 1960s--being powered by water still up to that time.  After the mill ceased operation, the ownership of the mill changed hands several times and finally closed in 1975.  In 1983, the Caledonia Mill was granted heritage significance status under Part 4 of the Ontario Heritage Act.   In the early 1990s, heritage grants secured through the Ministry of Culture, provided the necessary funding to re-shingle the roof---thus guarding the structure against further dilapidation with anchorfriskney   In 1998, ownership of the mill was transferred from Haldimand County to the Caledonia Old Mill Corporation, a non-for-profit  organization entrusted with the care and promotion of the mill.

Recently, the Caledonia Old Mill Corporation was awarded a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to produce an adaptive re-use plan for the mill through a comprehensive community consultation process.  Currently, visioning exercises and focus group work are underway and an open house event is planned for the fall which will invite residents to provide their opinions on the adaptive re-use options developed to date.