Pine Creek Grist Mill was built in 1848 by Benjamin Nye, a Massachusets native who wandered out west and settled along the Mississippi River. The old steel bridge over Pine Creek was built either in 1876 or 1878.

The 40'X45', 3.5 story main frame mill structure has a connected 35'X 45'sloped roofed, 2 story frame addition. The school in the foreground is the Melpine Country School #5, built in 1877 and moved to the grounds.

The dam on Pine Creek is still intact and in fairly good condition. The dam is of log crib construction c.1850. *Update: I am involved with the friends group that is restoring the mill. It is open to the public from 1PM to 4PM Wednesdays through Sunday during the summer. A great deal of the mill's machinery has been restored and we can grind corn and buckwheat. The mill has two separate roller mill plants, one for corn and one for wheat, plus 36" millstones for grinding Buckwheat. Power is from both a turbine and a steam engine. Last year the boiler smoke stack was restored and new historically correct roofs installed to return the mill to its original appearance. David Metz V.P. Friends of the Pine Creek Grist Mill*

Various millers have owned and operated the mill down through the years. The State of Iowa bought the mill property in 1929 in order to form a State Park with a neighboring parcel of ground. It is now owned by the Iowa Dept. Of Natural Resources and the mill is a museum of the milling processes employed in the upper midwest from 1848-1929.

If one goes out of the state park to the north and crosses Pine Creek the second time on the gravel road further upstream, about 2 miles from the mill, there is an old stone, German "Dunker" church on the hill opposite the gravel 'T' intersection. A left at this junction goes to County Route Y26.

*Some updated information courtesy of Tom Hanifan, President, Friends of Pine Creek Grist Mill )5/03/2007*