The site was designed by landscape architect Arthur R. Nichols and built by the National Youth Administration and the Minnesota Highway Department.

Craigie and his wife were drowned in Otter Tail Lake in 1872 and after long litigation the mill was torn down.

The steel plaque was replaced the following year with the more permanent wayside rest and monument.

The millstones and the iron water wheel are incorporated into the monument, though, which are an unusual feature for the historical markers designed by Nichols.

The Fergus Falls Daily Journal reported that a Mr. Mathews had pulled the millstones from the nearby Balmoral Creek.