In 1736, Pastor Egidius Günther Hellmund built a commercial facility on a meadow outside the town. From then on, craftsmen from the textile and iron processing sectors, who had previously used special mills outside the town, could pay to use the fulling mill set up here for felting wool fabrics, the grinding and polishing mill (e.g. for irons) and the hemp stamping mill to break flax stalks. Spa guests were offered the opportunity to view these three mill technologies, which were set in motion by a single water wheel.

After Hellmund's death, only the hemp mill remained in operation, even after war damage in 1797 made it necessary to build a new mill. In addition, a white tanner's fulling mill was set up to process animal hides using salt. In 1808, an inn was opened as a new commercial enterprise. In 1811, the widow Lenzhahner acquired the mill and set up a dance hall, but continued to operate the hemp mill. Karl Lenzhahner tried again in 1832 with a fulling mill and also a tan mill, which he leased out. Soon afterwards, a lack of water, also caused by the municipal drinking water supply, restricted the mill's operation.

An alternative use was found when Adalbert Steinkauler set up a brewery there in 1862, which was transferred to the Esch brothers from Dortmund in 1867. Due to the lack of water, the drive was replaced by a steam engine in 1874. After the First World War, the Walkmühle became a center for dyeing, laundry and dry cleaning.

The Walkmühle industrial monument has been owned by the city since 1966, which has made it available to artists, architects and tradespeople in return for their willingness to partially renovate it. Proposals for the further use of the dilapidated buildings have been put forward by private and municipal bodies, as well as by the Walkmühle Artists' Association, which has been in existence since 2005. It favors use as a cultural center where artists can live, work and exhibit their works. The two street names "Walkmühlstraße" and "Walkmühltalanlagen" in the area of the Kesselbach stream not far from Aarstraße commemorate the Walkmühle.