The village called Erçel may be as old as 300 years. But there are traces of human habitation even before the village was founded. In particular there are ruins of two castles named Manavşa (to the north) and Başnalar (to the south east) Erçel was an important center of Turkish resistance during the Franco-Turkish War just after the First World War. In 1961 the village was named as Değirmençay. In 1992 the village was declared a township.