Millheim was
platted by R. Stewart on July 21, 1858. It was named by John Kaltenbach, who "gave the new town the name of his birth-place in Baden, Germany". Kaltenbach built a
sawmill in 1853, on
Honey Creek. He added a
flour mill in 1864, but the flour mill proved inefficient. It was later sold to a Mr. Olmstead, who sold it to Mr. Clugston, who sold it to T. Holmes. Millheim was also known as Dutchtown; this was an alternate name in use by the time of the publication of
The History of Delaware County, Iowa, in 1878. (Delhi itself was later bypassed when the county seat was moved to
Manchester in 1880). Trade at Dutchtown had dwindled by 1914, with one author remarking, "As a trading point Millheim, or "Dutch Town," as it came to be known, is now a thing of the past." By the 1930s, Millheim was considered an abandoned town, and was listed as such in the 1931 publication
The Annals of Iowa. ==See also==