History

1849

In 1849, Dane County Sherrif, Peter W. Matts founded the hamlet of Paoli by building a sawmill on the Sugar River. He constructed a wooden dam upstream from the mill and dug a millrace channel a half mile long from the dam to his mill, producing a ten-foot head of water. The original sawmill was a wooden structure on the north side of the millrace.

1860

During the 1860s, brothers Bernhard and Francis Minch, immigrants from Bavaria, came to work at the mill. They eventually took over the mill from Matts and in the 1860s they built the 3-story stone flouring mill that sits on top of the millrace. In 1870 they milled 22,000 bushels of grain and sawed lumber in the sawmill. By 1877 the Minch brothers shut down their sawmill, but the flour mill stayed in operation into the 1900s.

1938

In 1938, Paul Fetherston bought the mill complex. He and his family used it for its original purpose for several years before they converted it into a warehouse for their feed and seed business.

1979

The National Register of Historic Places enters the Paoli Mills property on the State Register of Historic Places.

Today

The Mill is home to a collection of boutiques, artisan food makers, beverage purveyors, and hospitality providers, in an idyllic park setting.

Adapted from: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, received May 23, 1978; entered March 30, 1979. National Register of Historic Places: Paoli Mills, Paoli, Dane County, Wisconsin, Reference Number 79000337.