The Ramsey Mill was built by Alexander Ramsey

Alexander Ramsey

Alexander Ramsey was an American politician. He was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.Alexander Ramsey was elected from Pennsylvania as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the 28th and 29th congresses from March 4, 1843 to March 4, 1847...

 and Dr. Thomas Foster in 1856-1857 on the Vermillion River

Vermillion River (Minnesota)

The Vermillion River meanders through Scott County and Dakota County in Minnesota, emptying into the Mississippi River just south of Hastings. 13.5 miles of it are designated as a trout stream, which is unusual for being so close to a metropolitan area....

 in the town of Hastings

Hastings, Minnesota

Hastings is a city in Dakota counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota, near the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. The population was 22,172 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dakota County. The bulk of Hastings is in Dakota County; only a small part of the city extends...

 in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 state of Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. The river had a head

Hydraulic head

Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a specific measurement of water pressure above a geodetic datum. It is usually measured as a water surface elevation, expressed in units of length, at the entrance of a piezometer...

 of 19 feet (6 m) and a width of 50 feet (15 m) near the 4 story gristmill

Gristmill

The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...

. An addition included a cooper

Cooper (profession)

Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...

 shop and storage facility. Although Ramsey sold his interest in 1877, it retained his name. Maximum output was achieved in 1894, at 125 barrel

Barrel

A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...

s per day. On December 22, 1894, the building burned, possibly due to arson

Arson

Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...

.