Athens Mills

Athens Mills. . , Isaac Gray platted the town of Athens in 1844 and built the first grist and flour mill on the Des Moines River under the management of Charles Toms. Arthur Thome purchased the mill in 1846 and added a sawmill operation. In 1849, Thomes sold shares in the mills to his son-in-law Edward Colton and John Colton., In 1850, the mill and the abutment of the dam were completely removed in order to build a new lock and dam as part of the Des Moines River Improvements Project. , The Thome and Colton partnership built a new grist and flour mill before Arthur Thomes' death in 1855. A flood in 1857 swept away the mill, along with the machinery and all its contents. , The mill remnants you see down the hill were from the mill constructed in 1858 by Edward Colton. It was built to withstand ice and flooding and stood on a 30-foot stone foundation with an additional four stories and a horizontal plane water wheel located in the foundation. This mill functioned as a grist and textile mill until the 1890s.