Thunderstorms likely this morning. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 77F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 58F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.

Sign up today and save! Go to

Sign up today and save! Go to

Check out these photos of Omaha's Union Station

The Florence Mill has stood the test of time.

Covered wagons, Model-Ts and 18-wheelers have driven past.

But how old is the mill, really? Are there parts that date to Winter Quarters, the 1846-47 settlement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

Linda Meigs is the reason the structures at 30th Street and Dick Collins Road in the Florence neighborhood are still here and have us wondering about their origins. The Omaha artist and her husband, John, purchased them for $61,000 in 1998. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, they stand as a history museum that hosts an art gallery and offers a farmers market in season.

Her website states that the mill “was deconstructed, rebuilt, moved, abandoned and rebuilt under several owners” since Mormon pioneers “first built the mill in 1846.”

True. But saying it’s “the mill” is too definitive. “A mill” is more like it, based on research for this column that meant putting the nose to the grindstone.

The Mormons built a mill. Then abandoned their settlement. A new mill took its place, which could have used the footings or whatever was left after six years of decay before Florence was settled in the mid-1850s. That mill was added to and modernized by the Weber family who operated it for 104 years.

In 1939, because of flooding, the Weber mill was relocated a half-block north. The oldest part — said at the time to be what was left of the 1846 mill — was reportedly demolished.

From a compilation of Mormon journals and papers by author David R. Crockett, a mill was on the mind of Brigham Young just days after the Mormons crossed the Missouri River and established Cold Spring Camp near present-day 60th and L Streets, Newton K. Whitney was sent back to St. Louis to get grist milling equipment among other necessities.

Meanwhile, the Mormons moved their settlement to Cutler’s Park, northwest of what is now Forest Lawn Cemetery, and then to Winter Quarters. Their Municipal High Council decided to build a mill and appointed Young as superintendent. A suitable site for a mill was found on what was Turkey Creek, later renamed Mill Creek, at the north end of Winter Quarters. The stream still is visible south of McKinley Street west of 30th Street.

A dam was built to create the mill race. Permission was asked to use the government mill at Sarpy’s Point to saw lumber to build the mill. Oops. The Bureau of Indian Affairs now knew the Mormons were on indigenous lands without proper authority. Young countered that the government had called into military service more than 500 Mormon men for the Mexican War and thus delayed the migration west.

Young underwrote the mill’s construction. The week before Christmas, the mill’s first floor was completed, and he let water into the mill race (561 days labor was donated to build it) for the first time. Soon the creek froze, but two men figured out a way to grind corn. One walked on the wheel, the other fed the hopper.

On March 20, 1847, the water-powered grist mill was put into operation. It ground 11 bushels of corn per hour. The timing was good. Four days later, Young sold the mill for $2,600 to an experienced miller, John Neff. The frequent dam breaks became Neff’s responsibility.

Neff joined the trek to the Great Salt Lake that summer. He left the mill with his son, Frank, who took his family — and the millstones and machinery — to Utah the following year as father and son started another grist mill. In 1936, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, a portion of the original Winter Quarters millstone was incorporated into a monument marking the site of their Utah mill.

If only the rest of the history of a mill in Florence was as indisputable.

The Mormons left Winter Quarters behind in 1848. Nebraska Territory and authorized settlement came in 1854. In between, author and artist Frederick Piercy was in the area in 1853 and said a cabin, the last remnant of Winter Quarters, was being burned when he arrived. Could there have been pilings, unburned beams, left from the old mill? Perhaps.

A Federal Writers’ Project book from the late 1930s, “Omaha, A Guide to The City and Its Environs,” includes the following in its preface:

Much of the information contained in Omaha histories and news files was found to be erroneous. For instance, the case of the old Weber Mill in Florence might be cited. Although there is a marker at the mill stating that it was built by the Mormons in 1846, evidence unearthed by the project workers showed that the mill was built by a company organized to promote the industrial growth of Florence some six or seven years after the Mormons abandoned the site.

The book’s authors wrote that the mill-building company, which gained water rights to the creek, was headed by James C. Mitchell — he named the fledging village for his niece, Florence Kilbourn — and B.P. Pegram. The new mill probably was operating in 1855.

The late Harold W. Becker, who called himself an Omahalogist, in 1967 wrote that the Mormon and Weber Mills “had nothing in common except the site. The Mormon mill ran on water power from March to June in 1847, when the dam went out. Later it operated with ox power. No part of the Weber mill antedated 1854.”

Alexander Hunter acquired possession of the mill in 1856. It had been built of oak and walnut in the basement and cottonwood above the first floor. The huge foot-square beams were morticed at the joints. The marks of workmen’s chisels were visible. Many years later, it was said wooden pegs looked like those used in construction of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.

Jacob Weber Sr. and his family came to Florence in 1857. He had poor timing opening a bakery — it was the year of the Great Panic — and it closed soon after. He went to work for Hunter. So did Weber’s friend, George Haag. Those three men in 1859 got gold fever, started for Colorado with a “Pike’s Peak or Bust” sign, made it as far as the Kearney area, turned around and flipped the sign to “Busted, by Gosh.”

Some accounts have Weber and Haag buying out Hunter in 1860. But December 1865 is the date shown in the Douglas County Register of Deeds for a $950 transaction on the lot. Hunter went on to be a founder of Superior, Nebraska, in 1875.

The Omaha Republican newspaper in 1876 claimed Weber and Haag replaced the Mitchell and Co. mill in 1871 with a two-run flour and grist mill, with a sawmill attached. A 1924 World-Herald feature said the Weber Mill, by then almost hidden by a screen of stately maple trees, dated to 1863. That date was used five years later in another World-Herald story.

Waterpower for the Weber mill gave way to steam in the late 1880s with an engine bought from the Krug brewery. Electricity became the power source in 1923. The old water wheel was buried 16 feet beneath the level of the lower floor of the mill. The elevator, which his son wanted against Weber’s wishes, was added in 1915 when the roller system flour mill became a feed mill. Local farmers were losing money growing wheat.

Weather started taking a toll on the original structure, however old it was. A flood in 1932, a hailstorm in 1937. In 1938, the Bridge Street was built a block north of the mill, an earthen dam was built on Mill Creek west of the mill and MUD filled in the culvert east of 30th Street. The dam washed out in a cloudburst in August 1938, flooding the mill to its second floor. The City Council agreed in April 1939 to pay $8,000 to relocate the mill. The oldest parts of the mill were reportedly demolished weeks later.

Again, like in the 1850s, was anything salvaged? A timeline that appeared in The World-Herald in 1946, commemorating the three generations of Webers in charge of the mill and the centennial of the Mormons’ mill, suggested that some of the old timbers made it to the rebuilt mill in 1939.

Lyman Weber, the last of his family to run it, sold the mill in 1964 to Ernest and Ruthie Harpster, who owned the Kenwood Feed Store near 30th Street and Ames Avenue. The mill, painted pink at the time, avoided the wrecking ball when Interstate 680 linked up with the Mormon Bridge.

When the Harpsters put the mill on the market in January 1998, they sought out their LDS church headquarters in Salt Lake City and local historical groups as potential buyers. None could afford it.

Linda Meigs saved the Florence Mill from being torn down.

“It’s not beautiful, but it’s historic,” Meigs said in 1998. “Anybody who would buy that building has to be interested in history and has to be an optimist.”

An optimist. Just like Brigham Young, the founders of Florence and the Weber family were.

The explosive impact of Omaha's underworld

The stories of three Omaha police officers who were killed in the line of duty

Knives out for a look back at Omaha's steakhouse history

Hanscom Park celebrates 150 years of recreation

24th Street between Patrick and Burdette looking north, during the Health Fair parade in May 1967.

The Near North Side Branch YMCA was housed inside the Webster Telephone Exchange building at 2213 Lake St. from early 1946 to 1950.

Catherine Carrick, secretary of the Omaha Housing Authority, breaks ground in August 1936, on the $2 million Logan Fontenelle homes project near 22nd and Charles Streets. She is surrounded by federal, city, civic officials and seventh and eighth-grade students from the nearby Kellom School.

Kids playing at the Logan Fontenelle housing project.

A Near North YMCA van pictured circa early 1960s. Sam Cornelius, director of the Near North YMCA branch, is pictured in the center.

A parade line of children winds through the Logan Fontenelle housing area between 20th and 24th Streets north of Charles Street. On warm days, like this one in June 1959, the area buzzed with kids.

Technical High School students study black heritage in March 1968. From left are Jessie House, Wallace Harper, teacher Sally Kaeding, Ken Bradford and Ben Haulston. With back to camera is Mary Marion.

Technical High School in 1929, six years after it opened as the largest school west of Chicago with 3,000 students.

Basketball practice inside the Near North YMCA at 22nd Street and Willis Avenue in 1970.

The Near North YMCA located at 22nd Street and Willis Avenue. Pictured is Bob Boozer, left, and YMCA Director Sam Cornelius circa 1960s.

The day after beating the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series in 1964, Bob Gibson rode through the neighborhood where he grew up in a Buick convertible, receiving a hero's welcome.

1966 PHOTO: Bryant Center, an outdoor basketball facility with five black-top courts, lights, bleachers and an electric scoreboard, was coronated in September 1966 on an empty lot at 24th and Burdette Streets.

Children were among the throngs lining the streets on Oct. 16, 1964 during a parade for "Bob Gibson Day."

Ronnie Wright, 18, and little brother Ricky Wright, 13, play basketball in the snow on the courts at Kountze Park in January 1969.

1971 PHOTO: Long School, on the northeast corner of 26th and Franklin Streets. Before becoming principal at Lake Elementary, Swain taught at Howard Kennedy and Long Schools.

Lothrop School as it appeared in 1966.

The Safeway grocery store at the northeast corner of 24th and Lake Streets in April 1965. Its large parking lot on a busy intersection was a natural place for people to congregate.

The Ritz Theater at 2041 N. 24th St in April 1945.

Omaha Mayor A.V. Sorensen, foreground, talks at the official opening of a playground at 28th and Grant Streets in August 1966.

Omaha Tech grad and All-American Kansas State basketball player Bob Boozer, right, returned to his old neighborhood to help with the Near North YMCA basketball clinic in July 1966.

Federal Market at 1414 N. 24th St., shown here around 1946, was one of several businesses filling North Omaha. 

The intersection of 24th and Erskine Streets looking north in 1943.

The northwest corner of 24th and Lake Streets in January 1963.

The intersection of 24th and Ohio Streets looking south toward Lake Street in 1977.

1973 PHOTO: A parade in observance of Malcolm X's birthday at 24th and Paul Streets.

The Jewell building on N. 24th St. in 1946.

The intersection of 24th and Lake Streets looking south in 1947.

24th Street looking south from Lake in 1981. 

Central High's "Rhythm Boys" with coach Warren Marquiss, standing, preparing for the 1968 basketball tournament.

1967 PHOTO: Omaha Central basketball standout William "Willie" Frazier, left, receives the Claude V. Spencer Memorial Sportsmanship trophy at the Bryant Center.

Students at Franklin School line up to get their swings in a ball game in November 1969. Notable are the portable classrooms in the outfield. At the time, the Omaha Public Schools District were considering expansion while also dealing with changing demographics of the student body.

Jazz musician Preston Love in front of the Jewel Building in 1972.

Near North YMCA at 22nd and Grant Streets circa 1960s.

DePorres Club members protest in front of Reeds Ice Cream in 1953 for not hiring blacks.

Members of the Logan Fontenelle Lawn Patrol promote spring clean-up in April 1957.

A Kellom pool scene from July 1952.

In February 1954, Lake School fifth-graders reenact a scene from 65 years earlier when their school was the first in Nebraska to fly the American flag.

Lake Street west of 24th in 1967 included the Legal Aid Society inside the Carver Savings and Loan building and The Off Beat Supper Club.

It was estimated that more than 10,000 people turned out on July 2, 1967, for a parade sponsored by the Opportunities Industrialization Center. The parade was escorted by police and a sound truck. The main attraction was singer James Brown, who arrived from Chicago too late to participate in the parade, but his band rode in a bus up the parade route to Kountze Park. Brown and his band performed that night at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Rodney Wead speaks to a group on civil rights in April 1968.

The Omaha Star employed a number of children to deliver the newspaper.

Coach Josh Gibson's YMCA team circa 1962.

Originally published on omaha.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

We'll send breaking news and news alerts to you as they happen!

Our top headlines sent to your email inbox each day.

Twice-weekly email with sports headlines from the Kilgore News Herald.

This is the list to receive occasional emails containing special offers, deals and promotions (like contests).