Loddes Mill is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in the Town of Prairie du Sac,

Sauk County Sauk County is a county in Wisconsin. It is named after a large village of the Sauk people. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,763. Its county seat and largest city is Baraboo. The county was created in 1840 from Wisconsin Territory a ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, United States.

History

Before 1877, it was known as Sauk City Mills. It was the site of a now discontinued post office. The site of the first dam in Sauk County, Loddes Mill was built on lower Honey Creek in 1841 by Robert Bryant for a saw mill. He later sold it to H.B. Staines, who installed a pair of 28-inch burr stones and a shaking belt. Staines sold later to Mix, who constructed a building with a pair of 30-inch burr stones. Wilson was the next proprietor, then J. R. Woodruff, and then the mill was sold to Henry Rowell. The last mill, which is no longer standing, was built as a flour mill by Henry Rowell, and thus named Rowell's Mill. Rowell later partnered with Rufus Merrihew as Merrihew, Rowell & Co. It was a limestone building of 32 by 50 feet, and had four run of stone, along with a shed for feeding teams. In 1859, the flour from the mill took first place at the

state fair A state fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in th ...

. The mill was again sold in 1877 to Martin Lodde, who built a large frame building with three turbine wheels. The dam was purchased by

Wisconsin Power and Light Alliant Energy is a public utility holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, providing power in Iowa and Wisconsin. History Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL) expanded greatly in the late 1920s to include operations in Iowa, ...

in 1932 and the frame mill was razed. The mill pond dam broke in the evening of August 6, 1935 in a county-wide cloudburst and was never rebuilt.William H. Canfield.
Outline Sketches of Sauk County
'. Baraboo, Wis.: A. N. Kellogg, 1861, p. 46.

References

Unincorporated communities in Sauk County, Wisconsin Unincorporated communities in Wisconsin {{SaukCountyWI-geo-stub