Mount Horeb Area Historical Society's DRIFTLESS HISTORIUM
  • Home
  • VISIT
    • Museum >
      • Exhibits
      • Museum Gift Store
      • Facility rental
    • Tours by Appointment! >
      • Book Your Tour!
    • Special Tours
    • COVID-19 >
      • COVID19 Policy
  • EVENTS
    • Explore on your own!
    • Past News & Events
  • Research
    • Information
    • Resources and Genealogy
    • Research Services & Fees
    • Oral History Project
    • Online Resources
    • Research Volunteering
    • Donating Materials
  • About Us
    • Mission and History
    • Board of Directors
    • Bylaws
    • Staff and Volunteers
    • Newsletter
    • Contact us
    • Photo Gallery
  • Support
    • Membership
    • Business Membership >
      • 2023 Business Partners
    • Financial Support >
      • DONATE TODAY!
    • Raffle Calendar 2022
    • Exhibit Sponsorships
    • Volunteer!
  • Links
MILLS
In southwestern Dane County's settlement years mills were some of the first structures built and were mainly used for sawing wood and grinding grain.  Streams provided the source for powering the heavy machinery used in a mill's daily operations.  The streams were dammed to create a narrow flow of fast running water that powered a large revolving wheel or turbine.

Mills provided the lumber for building business places, schools, churches, houses, barns and outbuildings.  With the wheat boom in the 1860s and 1870s they offered a source for grinding the grain for animal and human consumption.

Small settlements grew up around these mills where residents capitalized on their patrons.  At the site of the Badger Mill, one of the earliest in the area, the village of Verona began with the community later moving to the north and its present location.  Other communities with mills included Elvers, Peculiar and Dover, all gone now.  There were also mills at Mount Vernon, Mount Horeb and many others.

Other sources of power were also used to run a mill's machinery including wood, coal, steam and eventually electricity.  With modern transportation the smaller mills have all but dissipated.  There is a mill still operating at Mount Horeb.  The large stone used for grinding grain in the early Mount Vernon Mill is on exhibit at the Driftless Historium at Mount Horeb.
Picture
Mt. Vernon Grist Mill stone. In our museum exhibit.
Picture
Mt. Vernon Grist Mill 1910
NOTE: We are not responsible for information from offsite links. Please contact these resources directly with additions and corrections.
Click on the name to view the web page for photos, maps, description, etc.   The names without links are older names of the ones with a link.
MT. HOREB VILLAGE
Mt. Horeb Feed and Fuel
    Adolph Elver Sorghum/Feed Mill and Elevator
    Bohn and Finke Mill
    Finke and Sons Feed Mill
    Hanson and Schneider Mill and Elevator
    Home Town Feed and Fuel
    J.B. Canterbury and Co.
    Rowland & Blied Feed/flour Mill
    Ward, Bohn, Finke Mill and Elevator
Kleven Brothers Saw Mill
Mt. Horeb Farmers Co-op Feed Mill
Lee and Holum Feed Mill
    Holum and Rude Feed Mill
    Rude and Robinson Feed Mill
    Robinson Feed Mill
    Mounds Agriculture Service
Irv's Feed Mill
    Post's Highway Feed Mill

PERRY
Daleyville Mill
PRIMROSE SPRINGDALE
Smith & Britts Mill
SPRINGDALE
Mount Vernon (Britts) Saw Mill
Mount Vernon Grist Mill
VERMONT
Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill
Samuel Lattimer-Charles Elvers Mill
Norslein Lumber Mill
Schlick Sorghum Mill
     Art Soper Sorghum Mill
Swales Mill
W.M. Steele Mill
C.A. Antelman Sorghum




Interactive Map​
​

Details: click icon for information and link to web page.  To return to  map click map or <- at upper left corner. For road view click ->.
Zoom: Use mouse wheel or + - icons.
Move map: click and hold any open space on the map then move your mouse.
Legend:   Click icon at upper left corner.  Click "All Items" for site lists and links. To close click map.
Full Screen:  Click icon at upper right corner.

Links and References:
Dane County Historical Society- maps, articles
Mt. Horeb Area Historical Society- tax records, images, oral history, publications:
Mount Horeb - Presettlement to 1986. Mt. Horeb Area Historical Society, 1986
Centennial history, Township of Springdale, Dane County, Wisconsin: souvenir booklet, 1848-1948
The Historic Perry Norwegian Settlement. The Perry Historical Center, Daleyville. 1954
The History of the Town of Mount Vernon : sesquicentennial celebration, 1846-1996
The Story of Primrose 1831-1895
The Town of Vermont – "The Early Years" 1846 – 1890. Marian Swoboda
Town of Vermont History. August 1977
Town of Springdale, Dane County, Wisconsin : 1848-1998 -Carol Riley Statz, chairperson/secretary
University of Wisconsin Digital Collection - Madison Public Library - online resources: plat maps; Wisconsin Dairy and Food Commission /
Wisconsin State Historical Society- maps, articles, photographs, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory for architectural information, etc.

HOME
MUSEUM
     
Visiting Us
​      Exhibits
      Museum Gift Store
      Tours
      Facility Rental
      Photo Gallery
​
      Focus on Energy Award

     
​EVENTS 
    Current & Upcoming Events
    Ongoing Events      
    Past News Events     
RESEARCH
  
Finding your Regional Roots
   Location and contact Information
   ​Research and Genealogy Resources
   Oral History Project

   Services and Fees
​
​   Volunteering
   Donating Materials 

​ONLINE RESOURCES 
   1873 Plat Book Histories
   1928 Prairie Farmer's Directory
   Cemeteries   
   Century Farms
   Cheese Factories
   Churches
   Civil War
   Community Histories
   Combined Interactive Map
   Early Settlers of Donald Park Area
   Miller Report
   Mills

   Museum Collections (off site)
   Nat'l Historic Sites and Markers
   Past Times Newsletters 
   Post Offices
   Schools    
   ​William E. Keithley  
JOIN

​SUPPORTING US
Get Involved
​Financial Support
​33 Ways to Help

Memberships
Business and Corporate Memberships

Volunteer Opportunities
Gift Store
Virtual Store


​ABOUT US
History and Mission
Board of Directors  
Bylaws

Staff & Volunteers
​Contact us

LINKS
Architectural History Facebook Group
Join us on Facebook
​

The Mt. Horeb Area Historical Society controls copyrights to the images on this site. 
For permission to use these images please call 608.437.6486 or email mthorebmuseum@mhtc.net