The first flour mill in Pierce County was built here about 1880 by Stephen F. Gilman, powered by a dam on the north fork of the Elkhorn River, and its flour was marketed widely under the "Golden Crescent" brand-name. Flour milling was an important pioneer industry in Nebraska, where small mills processed locally grown grain, provided jobs, and brought customers to hometown merchants' stores. The mill ponds also offered recreation, including fishing, swimming, and ice skating. The Pierce Mill remained a mainstay of the local economy until fire destroyed it on November 7, 1908. Although it was rebuilt, the importance of small-town mills was already declining, and after a flood destroyed the mill dam in 1924, the Pierce Mill closed permanently. In 1935 the City of Pierce acquired the mill site from Stephen F. Gilman's heirs, and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration built a new dam. The park that resulted was named for the Gilman family, and later improvements expanded it to fifty acres.