In 1831, John Vickers built a brush dam over the eight-foot waterfall on Portage Creek and erected a log grist mill. The mill is believed to have been the first mill in Kalamazoo County. The dam created a pond that supplied water power to the mill and formed the sizeable Sunset Lake, around which pioneers built homes and set up businesses. Vickers died in 1842. On October 18, 1871, the village was incorporated as Brady, but one day later a petition passed to rename it Vicksburg.