Winnebago Creek flows through a valley in Winnebago Township and before it crosses into Jefferson Township (southeasternmost township in Houston County), there once was a town in the winding valley called Winnebago Valley. The town, about five miles (as the crow flies) west of the Mississippi River, has long since faded away; all that remains is a privately-owned National Register of Historic Places site, the Johnson Mill, on unpaved County Road 5 that connects Caledonia and New Albin, Iowa.
The location was labeled “Watertown” on the early 1857 plat map, but the 1858 post office and later plat maps used the name “Winnebago Valley.” With early wheat production, the village blossomed in the 1860s as two separate settlements developed around two grist mills about a half-mile apart with Winnebago Creek supplying waterpower for both. Local residents referred to the westward or upstream part of town around Johnson Mill as “upper” and the downstream or eastern part of town around Barber’s Mill as “lower.” The (upper) Johnson Mill was where County Road 23 now terminates at County 5; The (lower) Barber’s Mill was on Peyton Valley Road just north of County 5.
Through the decades, some plat maps marked the location of the town near the eastern lower mill, whereas other maps show the town near the western upper mill, possibly depending on the location of the post office, which shifted from one location to another before being discontinued after the 1930s. When established in 1858, the post office received mail about once a week.
In 1869, the Houston County Journal said the town of Winnebago Valley was “improving quite rapidly” with two gristmills producing flour from wheat. Barbara Scottston and Terry Atherton in their 2013 publication, “A Creek Runs Through Me,” noted in addition to the two mills, the town of Winnebago Valley “had two blacksmith shops (one in each location), two stores (one in each location), a hotel/tavern (lower), a school (upper), later a garage for automobile repairs, numerous residences and a post office.” In 1897, there were three blacksmith and wagon repair shops, a harness shop and a shoe shop.
The upper mill, built in 1860-61, was operating by 1865. The original stone building was razed and replaced by a two-story structure on the original foundation in 1877. It became known as the Johnson Mill after later owner Charles Johnson. Many reported the mill still in operation until the World War I era (1814-1818). The milling equipment was sold for scrap metal to help finance World War II (1941-’45). Remaining workings were later sold for use in a Wisconsin mill. It has been refurbished as a vacation rental.
While the upper Johnson Mill survived longer than the lower Barber’s Mill, it was the opposite for the two stores. One former resident said, “The lower store was in business longer than the upper store, probably because they had the post office there. That store was still in business maybe up until 1940. The building was still standing there in the 1950s, but it wasn’t being used anymore.”
Atop the two-story lower store was a bell that was rung every day at noon. The lower mill (Barber’s Mill) and store and tavern are mostly associated with its last owner Victor Johnson (not to be confused with Charles Johnson of the upper Johnson Mill).
Scottston and Atherton quoted several anonymous accounts about the lower store. One recalled, “The town of Winnebago Valley existed before Eitzen did. People that lived up around (where) Eitzen is now used to come down here to do their trading. There were two mills here.”
Another respondent said, “It was quite a store in those days. They had a rifle hanging on the wall from World War I. They had a tavern there, too. They did a good business. It was a hotel in the early days … If you lived up there, you didn’t go to New Albin or Caledonia. You could just go there when you needed something. Johnsons were the last to run the store, but it was probably the one built by T. H. Barber (in 1874 or 1878).”
However, the town would not survive. In the 1919 county history, Winnebago Valley was still termed an unincorporated village with a mill, two stores and a school. However, the town no longer appeared on the 1916 plat map.
The location on Winnebago Creek that was so inviting for the construction of two mills was also so limiting for expansion. Sandwiched between the hillsides and the floodplain of the creek, there was little physical space for further construction. But with agricultural woes and transportation technology, there would be little need for additional structures.
When both Winnebago Valley grist mills were built in the 1860s, wheat had become the first major cash crop for small farmers, making small local mills major commercial ventures, around which villages developed. But by the mid-1880s, due to disease and insect damage, wheat production had declined, being greatly replaced by corn during the 1870s. By 1901, the lower mill had been converted from a grist mill into a sawmill.
The location of railroad tracks decided the economic future of small towns. The railroad went through Reno and Freeburg in the late 1800s, instead of Winnebago Valley. The Winnebago Creek valley was no longer a primary route through the southeastern corner of Minnesota.
In the early horse-and-buggy days, mills and stores needed to be within a day’s round trip journey by horse – or about every five miles. But rural residents became much more mobile when automobiles replaced horses in the early 1900s. Scottston and Atherton also noted the lack of a unifying heritage as in German Eitzen and Norwegian Spring Grove.
One late allure was “The Bowery,” an open-air, 40’ x 60’ dance pavilion a half-mile west of Winnebago Valley, attracting partygoers during Prohibition (Bring Your Own Bottle). Newspaper ads in 1921 touted “cooling breezes of the country,” dancing to live music, baseball, boxing, races, contests. “On to the bowery, boys!”
Sources: A Creek Runs Through Me; A History of the Winnebago Creek Valley in Southeastern Minnesota, by Barbara Scottston and Terry Atherton, 2013; “Agriculture,” Caledonia Pride, 1854 – 2004, edited by Alan Fleischmann
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