The St. Croix River Valley, with its towering white pine forests and navigable waters, was originally home to the Ojibwe and Dakota peoples. In 1837, the tribes ceded their lands to the U.S. government, and by 1839 logs harvested in northern forests were floating here to Marine Mills, site of the first commercial sawmill in what was to become Minnesota. Marine on St. Croix still reflects the heritage of its New England lumbermen founders and the Swedish immigrants who journeyed up the river to find work at the mill and establish homesteads. Historic homes and buildings look much as they did in the 1800s. The lumber company store, established in 1849, moved to a new building in the 1870s, where it still serves the community as the Marine General Store. Marine Village Hall, built in 1888, is the oldest town hall in Minnesota still used for government functions. The Marine Mill Historic Site stands along the stream that once powered the sawmill and drew settlers here, while in the 1800s the river served as the main route for transporting people and goods because the road from Stillwater to Taylors Falls was often muddy, rutted, and impassable.