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Built in 1843, Potter's Mill has become a cultural landmark along the Grant Wood Scenic byway, a National Historic Registry site, and oldest gristmill in the state of Iowa.
Before "The Mill” rose to fame, it was just the brain child of New Lebanon, Il native Captain Elgridge Gerry Potter.
Potter first came to the Bellevue area in search of a location for a flour mill. In 1843 Potter and local millwright John Gammel built "The Mill" on the banks of Mill Creek, just off the mighty Mississippi River. "The Mill", cost about $40,000 in total to build at the time. The foundation of the building and the eleven-foot thick dam were constructed from limestone quarried from the bluffs south across the creek, now Bellevue State Park. Locally sourced hand-hewn walnut and oak beams up to 45 feet long and 15 inches wide framed the building. The structure was first powered by an overshot waterwheel along the south side of the building. The waterwheel was 20 feet in diameter, with buckets 12 feet wide. It was capable of generating 100 horsepower.
By 1845 "The Mill" was operational. Potter sourced wheat from farmers in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, then sold the produced flour to customers in major cities throughout the MidWest and Eastern United States.
The dam was extended in 1869 to accommodate six new turbines, which allowed for year round flour milling. The turbines were in the basement of "The Mill" and drew water under the winter ice, storing enough water for late summer drought, and avoiding the frequent loss of waterwheels during spring flooding. The turbines powered six millstones to grind the flour. These stones ran almost continuously at peak production levels. All of the stones used in "The Mill" were French buhr stones, which were favored by millers because they didn't have to be redressed as often as the softer native stones. French stones were always cut into pieces for shipment across the ocean. They would be reassembled on site and held together with a red hot steel band that would contract and hold the pieces together.
In 1871, Potter sold "The Mill" to Kilborn and Co., who operated the structure for 10 years.
Gradually the millstone technology was replaced by 12 roller mills between 1870 and the mid 1880s.
A flash flood damaged the building on May 24, 1896. Fourteen inches of rain fell in 12 hours, creating a flash flood on Big Mill Creek, which destroyed another dam upstream from "The Mill." The spillway was not repaired after the flood but was instead replaced by a 35 horsepower Atlas steam engine.
Production capacity fell to only 50 barrels of flour per day after the installation of the steam engine. Eventually this technology was replaced by electricity. After 38 years in the hands of the Reiling family, "The Mill" was sold.
