Gervais Grist Mill

Gervais Grist Mill. . Just across the road and creek from this marker was the site of the first commercial grist mill built in the region now named Minnesota. Constructed in 1844 – five years before the birth of Minnesota Territory – the water-powered, flour and meal mill was operating when present day Little Canada was an unmapped wilderness on the western frontier of Wisconsin Territory. Its builder was St. Paul's first carpenter, Charles Bazille (1812-78), a Montreal native who was remembered as a short, "honest man, full of kindness." Its owner was another short, honest French Canadian, Benjamin Gervais (1786-1876) – the founder of Little Canada, and one of the pioneers of St. Paul. A former voyaguer born in Riviere du Loup, Quebec, Gervais came to this site in 1844 on the recommendation of his Dakota Indian friends. Aided by his wife Genevieve and eight children, Gervais carved out a large farm along this creek and adjoining lake now named for him. After their first harvest, the Gervais family used the mill to make cornmeal and flour for the lumber camps of the St. Croix Valley. In 1847 Gervais replaced his original pair of seven inch diameter granite mill stones for a better set from St. Louis. , The Mill was razed in the 1880's. , Erected in 1987 by the Little Canada Historical Society.