This picture is one of only a few ever taken of the Avoca Flour Mill. It was taken in 1900. Owner Frank Petranek is seated on the wagon, William Hinz is standing on the porch, the two little girls are Kate Petranek and Tillie Wanek, the other men are unknown. The Avoca Flour Mill was built of native stone, sometime in the late 1800's and was owned at that time by Frank Petranek and John Siker. It had mill grindstones that had come from Czechoslovakia. The mill was powered with steam, but later switched to the use of diesel oil when the village generating plant was installed. This supplied the town of Avoca with electricity. The generating plant lasted in the mill until 1926. Sometime around that year, the business changed ownership and it moved to a location just to the west of the Flour Mill on Front St., where the former Avoca Mill building now stands. At that time, the mill business switched to a feed business. The Flour Mill was closed and abandoned at that time and it was demolished sometime in the 1950's. The Feed Mill that replaced it burned in 1954, and was replaced by Avoca Milling Co. in 1958. See the Avoca Milling Co. page for more information on that mill.