What is the history of Rockdale, Iowa?
In 1834 or 1835 David Hutton and his son built a mill built of logs. Initially the mill was known as “The Catfish Mills.” In 1839 the mill was sold. James Pratt and Walter Manson purchased the mill in 1840, and they renamed the mill “Rockford Mill.” They replaced the original log building with a fram building four stories high. This mill could produce 90,000 bushels of wheat annually, and the flour produced was equal in quality to the flour produced in St. Louis, Missouri. As a result, the mill enjoyed a monolopy in the upper midwest until the establishment of other mills. Pratt and Munson would operate this mill for the next 25 years. During this time Rockdale was a crossroads for farmers in the area. Operations at the Rockdale Mill were temporarily halted due to the Rockdale Flood. The mill would eventually start producing flour once again. In 1878 the mill burned to the ground. Thomas Watters Jr. rebuilt the mill as a stone structure. He changed the name to the South Dubuque Mill. J
