The red brick mill in Toppila was built around 1920 by Vaasan Höyrymylly Oy, the predecessor of similarly named, nowadays very remarkable bread producer. Rye was the original product, but in 1950's the plant was expanded to additionally mill wheat. It was also expanded upwards with one extra storey. In 1979, the red mill got company of a massive feed factory and a set of concrete silos, as the plot was bought by Ra¡sio Oy. They shutdown the old mill in 1991, but still today occupy the feed factory.

In Spring 2004 during our first visit, the place was under conversion to flats. A lot of the original structures were present, although the most valuable machines were naturally missing. No signs of vandalism. Trip entertainment was provided by some band training in the storage wing. It was rainy and atmospheric.

Exactly two years later our group from across the country returned to the mill. It rained again. Conversion project had stalled, which was good in a way that no more original interiors had been removed. But there was graffiti, and quite a lot of it. In a such old, mostly wooden mill it disturbs the feeling. What will happen to the mill seems very unclear again, since the firm that started the renovation has now stopped actions here. This is due to the adjacent feed factory, which has a permission to operate till at least 2016. Presence of feed production practically prevents conversion of the red mill with it's noise and dust emissions to the environment. We can only await the worst, when thinking what will be the condition of the mill after ten more years of no use.

The surrounding industrial area is covered on a different page: Toppila.