April 14, 1805 – Iowa City entrepreneur – Walter Terrell – is born in Caroline County, Virginia.
Walter Terrell, a Virginian, came to Iowa City in 1840, becoming the first person in Iowa to obtain a permit to build a dam and mill. Venturing back to New Orleans to close out his business interests there, Walter returned three years later, in 1843, to begin his Iowa River project.
With the help of a skilled carpenter, Irish immigrant William Windrem, Terrell built a dam and a three-story grist mill on the Iowa River just north of Iowa City – what is today – directly in front of the Mayflower Apartments on Dubuque Street.
Over the next 23 years, Walter Terrell was a highly successful master miller. His grist mill was equipped with three levels of 3¹/₂ -foot millstones and three levels of four-foot millstones. The water wheel was the undershot type where the power wheel that turned the millstones was made to revolve by the rushing river water undershooting the wheel. The mill could grind 300 bushels of grain in 24 hours.
As the story goes, farmers from as far as 100 miles away would line up their grain wagons outside Terrell’s Mill, sitting sometimes for days, waiting their turn to grind their harvest here in Iowa City.
READ MORE ABOUT THIS IOWA STORY HERE
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“Walter Terrell, a Virginian, came to Iowa City in 1840, becoming the first person in Iowa to obtain a permit to build a dam and mill.” What entity did he apply to for the permit to build a dam and mill? My great-great-grandfather operated a mill in Dubuque county from 1870 to 1886. The mill was built approximately 1860. Thank you.
Linda D. The city of Iowa City is where Terrell applied for his mill/dam. One other mill had been built earlier in today’s Coralville. See details here. https://ouriowaheritage.com/coralville-i/
Thank you very much for the information.