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Millpictures.com > Listings >Iowa>Winneshiek Co.

Spielman Mill / Spillville Mill
Mill No: Ia_96_01

State -

Iowa
County -

Winneshiek Co.
Township -

Calmar Twp.
Year -

1849-1854
Water Source -

Spielman Creek at Turkey River
 

Pictures by: Jim Miller 08/24/2004 - Joseph Spielman, a German immigrant,Built the mill in 1849 or 1854. Improvements were made in 1865, at the end of the Civil War. Spielman was a muti-talentd man. Not only was he a miller, but he also dabbled in brewing, running a hotel, blacksmithing, banking, and merchandising; and he was a practicing licensed physician. The mill was later owned by John Barnatz, who also owned and operatwed the Barnatz-Painter Mill in Decorah at one time.
Picture: Jim Miller 08/24/2004 Joseph Spielman, a German immigrant,Built the mill in 1849 or 1854. Improvements were made in 1865, at the end of the Civil War. Spielman was a muti-talentd man. Not only was he a miller, but he also dabbled in brewing, running a hotel, blacksmithing, banking, and merchandising; and he was a practicing licensed physician. The mill was later owned by John Barnatz, who also owned and operatwed the Barnatz-Painter Mill in Decorah at one time.


Pictures by: Jim Miller 08/24/2004 - The little community of Spielville (Spillville) in 1860 boasted only about nine or ten families in addition to a hotel, a brewery, two merchant stores, a blacksmithy, wagonmaker, tinssmith and a carpenter. Others soon moved in around this core nucleus, mostly Chech immigrants, Swiss, and German settlers.
Picture: Jim Miller 08/24/2004 The little community of Spielville (Spillville) in 1860 boasted only about nine or ten families in addition to a hotel, a brewery, two merchant stores, a blacksmithy, wagonmaker, tinssmith and a carpenter. Others soon moved in around this core nucleus, mostly Chech immigrants, Swiss, and German settlers.


Pictures by: Jim Miller o8/24/2004 - The mill was powered by a 48
Picture: Jim Miller o8/24/2004 The mill was powered by a 48" Leffel hydraulic turbine which in turn was powered from the water impounded by the spar dam behind the mill on the Turky River. A close associate of Spielman was John J. Haug, a native Switzer, who was involved to some extent with the flour mill, a bank, a creamery, and was a sixeable landowner. The mill is currently the object of a restoration effort.


Pictures by: Jim Miller 08/24/2004 - Two churches were also built early on. The St Clements German Catholic Church, brick in 1860, was built to replace an earlier log cabin meetinghouse. The Czechs also built an imposing limestone church, St Wenceslaus Catholic Church at about this same time and a limestone two story parochial school in 1870, named St Wenceslaus. Both the church and the school are the oldest Czech Catholic church and school in the nation.
Picture: Jim Miller 08/24/2004 Two churches were also built early on. The St Clements German Catholic Church, brick in 1860, was built to replace an earlier log cabin meetinghouse. The Czechs also built an imposing limestone church, St Wenceslaus Catholic Church at about this same time and a limestone two story parochial school in 1870, named St Wenceslaus. Both the church and the school are the oldest Czech Catholic church and school in the nation.


Pictures by: Jim Miller 08/24/2004 - Spillville is also noted for its Bily Clock Museum and the museum commemorating Antonin Dvorak's summer spent with his family in Spillvile in 1893. He was related the J. J. Kovarik, the teacher at the St Wenceslaus Parochial Catholic School. WHile in Spillville, he composed his Opus 965: Quartet in F Major (The American Quartet) and his Opus 97: Quintet in E Flat Major. He also played daily the pipe organ in the St Wenceslaus Church.
Picture: Jim Miller 08/24/2004 Spillville is also noted for its Bily Clock Museum and the museum commemorating Antonin Dvorak's summer spent with his family in Spillvile in 1893. He was related the J. J. Kovarik, the teacher at the St Wenceslaus Parochial Catholic School. WHile in Spillville, he composed his Opus 965: Quartet in F Major (The American Quartet) and his Opus 97: Quintet in E Flat Major. He also played daily the pipe organ in the St Wenceslaus Church.




Directions: Take US 52 south from Decorah about 8 or 9 miles, turn right on SH 325 and go 5 miles to Spillville. Turn right onto Ch W14/Main St. and travel 0.5 miles north through town the to the mill just past Mill St. by the bridge over the Turkey River. The mill is on the left side.

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