Town: Imperial Mills
Population: Unrecorded, there are a handful of modern houses located at the town site.
Reason for Decline: When the timber harvest was over the mill closed and the people packed up and left.
History:This beautiful site near the mouth Bear Creek was selected as the site of a mill town in 1848. The mill, first known as The Buena Vista Mill was built by John and Abner Brewer. The new town of Buena Vista was platted but never recorded. In 1875, tragedy struck the mill and it was destroyed by fire. In September of 1881 the mill was rebuilt by Dennis Porter and renamed, Imperial Mills. The mill was the principle flouring mill for the surrounding country and had abundant water power year round. It was capable of producing 60 barrels of flour everyday. In connection with the mill was a grocery store run and owned by M. B. Hine. The grocery store also served as the town post office. The village had a population of 60 in 1875. The land surrounding the village is good fertile farming country for Michigan white wheat & many types of fruit. The town was also a proposed station on the Grand Rapids & Saginaw Railroad, which, like many "paper railroads" never was actually built. The post office was at first called Austerlitz, it was later named Chauncy, and a different office by the name Austerlitz opened in the village of Plainfeild. Plainfeild was located at the confluence of the Rouge and Grand rivers. There is a nice multi cache there: GCK6N6 Olde Plainfeild Village.
Imperial Mills Plat, 1876. Note the dotted line, that is the proposed route of the GR&S Railroad.
Notes: The interesting aspect of this cache is, now that you have read about the mill you get to go out and see it! The cache location offers a beautiful view of Bear Creek and the former mill. The Mill has been turned into a private residence. Besides some alterations the exterior of the mill still looks a lot like it did back in the late 1800's when it was built. Please avoid night caching. The cache is a magnetic Test Strip container.
This cache is part of the Michigan's Lost Towns cache series. Visit this link to see the complete list and to submit your own!!!