This first dam to receive the honors of a local landmark is located near the mouth of the Oak Creek River in South Milwaukee. Built by John Fowle in the early 1840s, this dam helped operate both a gristmill and a sawmill. Fowle’s mill was the second built here after the first was destroyed by ice and high water. The original Oak Creek settlement consisted only of a few houses, a stage station, and a tavern but later became the City of South Milwaukee. In 1867, Charles Ahrens bought the mill and refitted it with new machinery and strengthened the dam. His changes doubled the mill’s production from 25 to 50 barrels of flour per day. The mill was torn down in 1932. The millstones, thought to be the oldest man-made items in South Milwaukee survive on the site and can be seen lying on either side of the dam. The original dam was made of wood and had a wagon road over it, but was rebuilt by the WPA in the mid-1930s. It is now owned by Milwaukee County and is part of the Oak Creek parkway.