De Zwaluw was built in 1837 by millwrights L Reinds of Beilen and B Sluter of De Groeve. The mill incorporated parts from a
windmill at Schipborg which had been demolished. It replaced a post mill which itself had replaced a watermill on the Drentsche
Aa river. The mill came into the ownership of the Greving family in 1876. It was worked by successive generations of the Greving family until 1947 when a sailstock broke.
In 1951, millwright Christiaan Bremer of Adorp,
Groningen fitted a new cast-iron windshaft to replace the previous wooden one. This came from a windmill at Termunten, Groningen which had burnt down in 1944. A new pair of Patent sails was fitted at this time. The restored mill was officially opened on 27 September 1951. The mill was out of use from 1970 and in 1980 was purchased from the Greving family by the Gemeente Vries. A further restoration was undertaken in 1982. In 2008-09, further restoration work was carried out at the mill at a cost of €36,524.
