[2] A native of Fulton County, Pennsylvania, John Wilds settled in Mount Vernon in 1853, opened a general store, and invested in real estate.

It was probably built by brothers Henry and William Albright, the town's earliest masons.

The two-story, brick structure exhibits elements of Early Republic influences.

He sold the mill in 1860 and with the outbreak of the American Civil War he volunteered for the 13th Iowa Infantry Regiment.

This article about a property in Linn County, Iowa on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.