The River, the Falls, and the Race

Start at the entrance to the Ice House Museum on the

northeast corner of 1st and Main Sts.

It was near this that William Sturgis

built his cabin in 1845, where the Cedar

River bed dropped several feet, creating a

small falls. Sturgis planned to augment this

naturally occurring drop with a brush

dam to harness the power of the Cedar

River.

William Sturgis never finished his dam. In 1847, he sold

his claim to brothers John M. and Dempsey C. Overman

and John Barrick. They dug a mill race, and built a dam

and a saw mill.

John M. Overman,

the Founder of Cedar Falls

Industry What’s a mill race and why was it so important?

Bird’s-eye map of Cedar Falls, 1868, showing river and mill race

Mills need power to run the

equipment that cuts logs into boards,

or grinds grain into flour. The river

can provide that power, but its power

has to be controlled. A mill race is a

long channel dug parallel to the

river. A part of the river’s water is

diverted into the channel to run the

equipment. If the water gets too

high or swift, gates at the head of the

millrace can be closed to control the

flow. The mill race, 1885, shown as a narrow blue channel south of the river

The mill race created an island

between the river and downtown.

The Illinois Central Railroad line

crossed the river, as the railroad

does now, but also had to cross

the millrace just north of where

Washington St. meets 1st St., close

to the Historical Society’s Little

Red Schoolhouse.

Mill race railroad bridge

Leave the Ice House Museum and follow the frontage road to 1st St. Walk east on

1st St., passing Behrens Rapp Gas Station on your left. Stop in front of the Little

Red Schoolhouse.

In about 1862, a cornstarch factory

was built of local limestone, behind

where the Hampton Inn is now

located. Its walls were two feet thick

and its massive grindstones were

powered by the river. The building was

used for almost 150 years by a variety

of businesses. Wooden pumps,

oatmeal, pickles, washing machines,

and brooms were produced there. In

1976, the building was restored and

opened as the Broom Factory

Restaurant. It was later placed on the

National Register of Historic Places.

It was the last mill building standing in

Cedar Falls. The building was torn

down in February 2008. Leave the Little Red Schoolhouse

and proceed to the crossing at 1st

and Main Sts. To the east, where

the bridge crosses the river, the mill

race once ran. The photo to the

left was taken looking west. You

can see the broom factory building

on the right, the mill race bridge,

and the remnants of the race,

which was filled in for highway

construction ca. 1971.

We hope you have enjoyed this

tour. The river, the falls and the

race all played important parts in

the history of Cedar Falls.