An Aged Photo Of The Old Waterloo Mill

by Janice Adomeit

Title

An Aged Photo Of The Old Waterloo Mill

Artist

Janice Adomeit

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

OLD WATERLOO MILL
It was originally known as the Old Red Mill (on the lower mill pond). The first mill of three built in the area in 1843, it operated as a sawmill. It was the longest operating mill and actually the longest operating business in Waterloo according to an article written in 2008. The mill stayed in operation until the 1970's when it closed in the process of its sale to another owner. OSHA and other regulations made it too burdensome to re-open. During its history it had about 15 owners from the time it was built to present.
In the early 1850's the operations of a gristmill were added. Fires seem to play a part in the destruction of many places and the Red Mill was not excluded. In 1876, the mill currently known as the Follendorf Mill was destroyed by fire. It took less than two years to rebuild it. The mill was then built out of bricks made by the Helm Brothers, another local business. Another transition of the mill was in the later 1800's it was used as a feed mill.
The mill was also of historical importance to the City (Village) of Waterloo. The owner was granted a franchise for a hydro- electric system by the village in 1897. The Electric Light Plant took less than a year to complete and the first sparks of electricity provided light to a few lines in town. Later the village bought the system and moved it. Even to the current date, the city relies on municipal power and not that from a large company. After the mill sold the electric plant it went back to its operations of a feed mill. It was about 1911 that it took on the name "Waterloo Mill", that is the first time of documentation of the name being used.
Another item of interest that I came across is the farmers would bring the corn/feed to the mill in pick-up trucks. The grain would be hand shoveled out of the trucks into the hoppers. In September of 1960 a new hoist and drag was installed at the mill to eliminate this step. It would lift up the front end of the truck allowing the feed to flow into the hopper directly. The caption below the picture in the paper also mentioned that "now the farm wife can manage the trip to the mill, as all lifting has been eliminated. This will free the farmer for field and harvest work in the busy season." (I wonder if a guy wrote this?- not to offend anyone these days, but it does have that feel about it).
Mills served an important part to the history of many cities and villages. Just within ten miles of Waterloo there were an additional three mills. Their functions were as sawmills (to provide lumber for the building of villages), gristmill (most flour was purchased locally, before the large flour factories), a sources of hydro-power (still serve this function, even if otherwise not in use), feed mill and making fertilizer ( still common to find mills that provide feed and fertilizer). And for some reason, it was a place for farmers to bring the chicks and a place to buy the baby chicks at Easter Time. Waterloo Mill served all the functions mentioned above throughout its history.
Thank you to the Waterloo Historical Society for saving articles and pictures about the old mills in town. The historical societies are a great place to find information about people and places within a community. They rely on the volunteer efforts of people in the community and donations of items and money to operate.
(Trivia - Webster's Dictionary only has feed mill as two words as the proper spelling. Dictionary.com has gristmill either way. Sawmill is only spelled correctly as one word)

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January 2nd, 2013

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