Edina Mill

In the mid-1850s, small gristmills began to spring up along several creeks that ran through the land where much of the area's grain was grown. This was a direct result of the fact that prior to these mills, farmers had to haul their grain in horse-drawn wagons over long distances to the mills at Saint Anthony Falls along the Mississippi River.

In 1856, Jacob Elliot, Captain Richard Strout, Levi M. Stewart, and Joseph Cushman purchased land and constructed a mill on the Minnehaha Creek in present-day Edina. The mill and the tiny settlement that sprang up around it were named Waterville Mills. Pioneer farmers brought their wheat, rye, oats, barley and corn from as far away as Excelsior and St. Anthony. In 1859, the mill was resold to William Rheem and Jonathan T. Grimes who renamed it the Red Mill. They kept the mill running constantly during the Civil War making flour requisitioned by the government for the Union Army. In 1867, the mill was again resold to Daniel H. Buckwalter who again changed the name of the mill to the Buckwalter Mill.

After only two years Buckwalter sold the mill to a Scotsman named Andrew Craik in 1869. He gave the mill and the city of Edina its present name. Edina was a nickname for his birthplace in Edinburgh, Scotland, that appeared in a poem written by Scottish poet Robert Burns. Along with the new name, Craik also brought two new products, oatmeal and pearl barley. The Edina Mill was the first in the state of Minnesota to make them and for many years it was the only place in the area to get them. In 1875, George Millam, a Scottish miller hired by Craik shortly after he bought it, purchased the mill from Craik and converted from a wooden overshot water wheel to turbine power. By 1879, three turbines drove the millstones and other milling machinery.