The town’s first stream-driven flour mill stood here from 1843 to 1850 beside a stream that meandered and often rampaged. In an 1851 flood, a mother and three of her children drowned, and the waters carried away three bridges and two ancient sycamore trees at the creek mouth. Though crossed by bridges and culverts, the creek resisted all attempts to contain it until a 19-foot arched tunnel was constructed beneath Sycamore Street in 1895. Following the 1993 flood, a concrete arch was added inside the old brick structure, and the tunnel carries runoff and sanitary sewer to a riverfront pump station.