Industry
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Formerly called Hale’s Mill Pond, this site took shape in 1836–37 when Waukesha County’s first dam and sawmill were built nearby by Hugh Wedge and Isaac DeWitt. In 1840 Wedge sold out to William P. Hale, who was joined by his brother, Hiram E. Hale, in 1846. Hiram bought out William in 1855 and operated his mills into the 1890s. Four water-powered saw, grist, and flouring mills and four steam-powered flouring mills operated here, spurring development of the Yankee Settlement here and nearby Prospect Hill. Hale’s Mill Pond became a place for fishing, swimming, skating parties, and ice-cutting bees, inspiring the area’s name, “Mill Valley.” In the 1920s John C. Blott, a descendant of early settlers, subdivided the Mill Pond’s shores and renamed it Linnie Lac to honor his wife, Malinda Hotelling Blott, whose nickname was “Linnie.”
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New Berlin, Wisconsin · United States
