The Glenwood Homestead and Flour Mills

In 1871 Brede and his family moved to Glenwood Township and began farming on a homestead in Section 21. He built a beautiful home that later passed to his daughter, Henrietta, and her husband Gustav Johnson.


Sander Homestead (Glenwood, Winneshiek, IA, date unknown). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.

Volume one of Edwin Bailey's history of Winneshiek County mentions that Brede SANDER had built a flour mill which later became a creamery.


Edwin C. Bailey, Past and Present of Winneshiek County, Vol. 1 (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1913), p. 255.

There have been two flour mills erected in Glenwood township. One was built in 1868, known as the stone mill on the Trout river, and had adequate water power for a number of years. Another was built in 1872 by B. B. Sander on the same stream further down, but after a few years the water gave out, so the machinery was sold as scrap iron and the building was converted into a creamery. The stone mill mentioned above was run for several years by steam, but finally was closed, as it did not pay expenses.

Winneshiek County and Glenwood Township (1875)

The 1875 Winneshiek County map below is from the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection and as one can see, even though it shows the sections of each township, it is not a plat map. Rumsey scanned this image from A. T. Andreas' illustrated historical atlas of the State of Iowa.


Winneshiek County, Iowa (1875). Image courtesy of David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.

What is interesting is if one examines the detail of Glenwood township below, one can see B. B. Sander's name at the bottom of Section 22.


Glenwood Township, Winneshiek, Iowa (1875). Image courtesy of David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.