To learn more about this collection please see the finding aid link found above, and/or visit the College and Lutheran Church Archives to use these primary sources.
Bevens Creek Mission Mill Company. Records of Bevens Creek Mission Mill Company, 1867-1897. GACA Collection 386. 2 folders and 1 oversize folder.
ABSTRACT:
The Bevens Creek Mission Mill Company collection contains an account book, minutes, and a warranty deed. Bevens Creek Mill was a flour mill on Bevens Creek in Carver County, Minnesota. It was operated in an effort to provide income to St. Ansgar’s Academy. The mill proved less successful than its proponents hoped and was sold in 1897.
A flour mill was erected at a falls on Bevens Creek during 1867. Conceived by Rev. Peter Carlson and planned and operated by the Bevens Creek Mission Mill Company, the mill was intended to provide income for St. Ansgar’s Academy. A.J. Carlson was employed as miller.
The mill was water-powered until 1872, when fluctuations in creek levels necessitated the addition of a steam engine. The lack of access to a railroad and competition from larger and more modern mills in the area led to profit loss, and eventually, indebtedness.
In 1874 the leaders of St. Ansgar’s Academy began the planning process to eventually move the school to St. Peter, Minnesota. In hopes of continuing a local school in East Union, a newly formed body, the St. Ansgar’s Society agreed to purchase the school’s buildings and the mill. In 1879, the Society sold the mill to the Bevens Creek Mill Company, which managed it until 1897. The mill was auctioned off at 1 pm, Tuesday, 1 June 1897 and later removed.
