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.

Mt. Vernon Grist Mill stone. In our museum exhibit.

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

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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.