Thank you for joining us at Potter's Mill. We invite you to reflect on the interesting history of Iowa's oldest gristmill. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places and a Point of Interest with Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, Potter's Mill offers a unique atmosphere with many of the artifacts from the Mill's flour producing days still on display. We encourage you to take your time and explore.

In 1843, Capt. Elbridge Gerry Potter came to the Bellevue area from New Lebanon, Illinois seeking the ideal location for his new merchant flour mill. He had traveled up and down the Mississippi searching for the right combination of factors for a successful milling business and for a peaceful and scenic area to settle.

Capt. Potter formed a partnership with a local millwright, John Gammel, to build his flour mill on the Big Mill Creek. Limestone from the bluffs across the creek was used for both the foundation of the building and the eleven foot thick dam (now the west wall of "The Stone Room" on the main floor). Local timber was cut and an additional 73,000 board feet of logs were purchased to complete the structure. Throughout the building are the original hand-hewn walnut and oak beams, 45 feet long and 15 inches square. Total construction cost was about $40,000.

Potter’s Mill was in operation by 1845, with flour being sold to customers in St. Louis, New Orleans, Cincinnati, and New York among others. Capt. Potter bought wheat from Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as from local farmers.

During this period, power came from the overshot waterwheel located on the south side of the structure. In the late 1860's, the limestone dam was raised to its current height (the remaining portion of the dam is now the west wall of our "Stone Room" dining area) to accommodate the installation of six turbines which in turn ran six sets of milling stones. Peak flour production at this time was 200 barrels per day.

E.G. Potter sold the mill in 1871 to Kilborn and Co. The Kilborns were bought out in 1881 by Arnold Reiling, whose family owned it for 38 years. Reiling then sold it and it was operated by several different owners until the Dyas family bought the mill in 1931.

On May 24, 1896, a flash flood, caused by 14 inches of rain falling in 12 hours, rushed down Big Mill Creek, knocking out another dam upstream and tearing out the Mill’s spillway and a frame office. An old photo of the damaged structure the day after the flood is on the first floor.

It was decided not to rebuild the spillway, so a 35 horsepower Atlas steam engine was installed and connected to the repairable shaftworks. Production capability fell to 50 barrels per day. Later, electricity replaced the steam engine. In 1969, after 126 years of production, the machinery ground to a halt.

In 1980, Daryll and Carolyn Eggers bought the building at an auction and began reconstruction on the creekside foundation which had crumbled dangerously. Local craftsmen preserved as much of the original structure and interior as possible.

After an extensive Certified Historic Rehabilitation that preserved the original fabric and feel of the old mill four beautiful Bed and Breakfast rooms were added in 2002. 

Visit Potter's Mill where special moments become lasting memories.