St. Croix Lumber Mills-Stillwater Manufacturing Company
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
From the record
“Isaac Staples' Sawmill is a historic industrial property in Stillwater, Minnesota, United States, consisting of an 1850 stone powerhouse and a 1900 metal-clad factory. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as St.”
Wikipedia article Isaac Staples' Sawmill, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 42 National Register listings published here for Washington County · listed in 1982 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.82003081- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
It is drained by Lake St. Croix, which washes its entire eastern shore from north to south; its average width is about three-quarters of a mile, with a curve in it opposite South Stillwater. From this curve extends a bay into the land, run¬ ning north-westerly about half a mile. The narrow neck or point of land extending between the bay and main lake, is known as Kittson's^ Point. It is covered with a thin growth of oak. On section three are some fine springs, from which flows a small creek, which, extending in a south-eastern direction, and called Perro creek, ^ enters the lake on section 11. The water of this creek is conducted through a race for some distance, supplying the power which runs the Baytown flour-mill. In the western part of the_ town, located on sections 7 and 8 is a fine lake, % covering about fifty acres, called McDonald's lake, in honor of R. McDonald, one of the oldest settlers in that part of town..
Annual town meeting called at school-house No. 14, Marchllth, 1873, Charles 13. Fisk, in the chair. Voted a tax of three mills for current ex¬ penses; elected A. Secrest, J. Whalen and E. Mackey, supervisors; David Cover, clerk. The question of license was again voted on, with one for and twenty-seven against. Annual town meeting called at the school-house in South Still¬ water, March 9th, 1875. Voted to authorize the treasurer to transfer the bounty money in hand, to the road fund; voted a tax of one mill for cur¬ rent expenses; voted two mills for road purposes: elected J. Whalen, A. Secrest and Joseph Perro, supervisors; David Cover, clerk. Annual town meeting was called at the school house, in South Stillwater, Murch 14th, 1876, O. R. Buckman in the chair. Voted a tax of one mill for current expenses, and one and a quarter mills for road purposes; elected J. Whalen, A. Forbes and Joseph Perro, supervisors. Annual town meet¬ ing was called at the old school-house, in South Stillwater, March 13th, 1877, A. W. Smith in the chair. Voted a tax of one and a half mills for current expenses, and two mills for roads; elected J. Whalen, Frederick Albrecht and William Pea¬ body, supervisors. Annual town meeting was called at the old school-house, in South Still¬ water, March 12th, 1878, A. Secrest in the chair. Voted a tax of two mills for roads and one and a half for current expenses; elected A. Secrest, J. Whalen and F. Albrecht, supervisors; 104 votes against license and forty-two for it. Annual town meeting was called at the old school-house, in South Stillwater, March 11th, 1879, Edward Mackey in the chair. Voted a tax of two mills for roads and one and a half for current expenses; elected A. Secrest, F. Albrecht and J. Whalen, supervisors. A vote of sixty-six against license and thirty-two for it. Annual town meeting was called at the old school-house, in South Still¬ water, March 9th, 1880, T. B. Ilopkins in the chair. Voted a tax of two and a quarter mills for roads and one and a quarter for current ex¬ penses; sixty-four votes against license and thirty
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 9 fires within 5 miles of St. Croix Lumber Mills-Stillwater Manufacturing Company
between 2000 and 2020, burning about 31 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Debris and open burning
4
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1
Recreation and ceremony
1
Arson/incendiarism
1
Misuse of fire by a minor
1
Railroad operations and maintenance
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
22 workings within 5 miles of St. Croix Lumber Mills-Stillwater Manufacturing Company: 12 occurrences, 5 producers, 5 past producers.
5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Stillwater, the town this property stands in, in 35 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 16 thunderstorm wind, 12 hail, 3 lightning, 2 heavy rain.
The reports record 1 death and 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Strong thunderstorm winds blew down several trees and damaged a home in Maplewood. Several trees were blown down in the Lake Elmo area. A tornado touched down west of Stillwater and caused an estimated $3 million damage to 17 homes. Ten of the homes were severely damaged and a 3-year-boy was injured by flying debris.
Many trees, a light pole, and 6 power lines were downed. A woman riding her bike at Lowell Park along the St. Croix River just south of the historic Stillwater Lift Bridge sustained a serious arm injury when a tree crashed down and pinned her to the ground. Several outdoor event tents nearby were blown into the St. Croix River.
Marina damaged. Pier broke lose from shore with 25 boats, some still occupied. Two other piers heavily damaged. Wind damage also reported in Oak Park Heights, Lake Elmo and Oakdale. Large tree limbs and power lines down.
A home on Penfield Avenue North in Stillwater Township was struck by lightning and caught fire. The blaze caused $250,000 damage to the structure. Another home on Ozark Avenue North in May Township was damaged by a lightning strike. The time was estimated.
A large tree was blown down by strong thunderstorm winds. Hennepin County Brooklyn Park,30,1610CST,,,0,0,?,0,Thunderstorm Winds Several satellite dishes were reported to be blown over.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.