Mill Island (Polish: Wyspa Młyńska) is a historic area located in the Old Town of Bydgoszcz, Poland, covering approximately 6.5 ha: today it is a place with cultural and recreational facilities, surrounded by the Brda river and its branch.

In the east, the "Międzywodzie kanal" makes delimitation with the so-called "Mint Island", home to several facilities of the District Museum: A dike separates the north-western part of the Mill Island from Brda river: in this area is set a waterfront mooring for yachts, along with a marina and a hotel, at the opposite of Rother's Mills.

On Mill Island, a pedestal carrying an earthly globe identifies the 18° East Meridian, which crosses the neighboring Old Market.

At the end of the 14th century, for economical and military defense purposes, water network in the western Old Town was improved, so as to take advantage of Brda river first weir, Jaz Farny (literally "Parish weir"), has been created, along with a lock and a navigable channel which is today the actual riverbed of Brda river.

They piled the dike linking the island to Focha Street, built a complex of mills, barns (including the predecessor of the Red Granary) and residential buildings, in particular using the foundations of the former mint house.

On the northern edge of the island were built "Rudolf and Wilhelm Mills" (now Bydgoszcz hydroelectric power station "Kujawska"), a brick coach-house and storage facilities.

These brothers owned also in Bydgoszcz, raised on the grounds of the former castle, a sugar refinery (now the local seat of PZU insurance company at Grodzka St.25).

The Schicklers' set up in 1826 Bydgoszcz Mills Company "Hercules", producing not only the local market but also exporting to Germany, Great Britain, and even Brazil.

In addition, the period from 1870 to 1914 was the time of creation of "Bydgoszcz Venice", an architectural ensemble of tenements built along the leat canal of the river from the east, south and west.

Marina was expanded to the benefit of WKS "Zawisza" Sports Club and water police station in the area of the White Granary.

[10] In the 1990s mills were sold to private investors, and the remaining facilities were transferred to the ownership of "Leon Wyczółkowski" District Museum in Bydgoszcz.

[11] These stone fishes statues used to stand in the 1950s, in a pool to replace the downtown monumental fountain "The Deluge" (Polish: Potop), melted down by German forces in 1942.

From 2006 to 2008, the building was extensively renovated under the program "Restoration of cultural heritage on Mill Island"[6] and fitted for exhibiting archaeological collections.

Originally, adjoined to the Red Granary was set water wheels driving the mill, it was disbanded in 1917 when transitioning to hydroelectric power station.

This year is the one of the start of erection of actual Rother's Mills, on the area belonging to merchant Rauber were previously stood gardens.

[22] After a long and thorough refurbishment, in November 2022, city authorities renamed the ensemble "Centrum Nauki i Kultury Młyny Rothera " (English: Rother's Mills Science and Culture Centre);[23] it hosts now permanent and occasional exhibitions.

[16] Located at the junction of the leat branch and Brda river, the place has been built and re-built successively since 1786, when a flour mill was constructed there.

The first dye house owned by Bydgoszcz industrialist William Kopp was established in 1878 in a nearby street, the company employed just 2 workers.

The plant experienced a period of prosperity at the beginning of the 20th century, providing laundry services to Bydgoszcz area, but also several to other cities like Grudziadz and Torun.

In practice, only 3 sons (Rudolf Wilhelm Albert, Julius Otto Friedrich and Felix Ernst Max) ran the business.

In 1857, the steam-powered distillation device had a capacity of 1000 liters: the 3hp steam machine, the first one installed in the city, had been produced by Friedrich Eberhard's[32] workshops in Berliner Straße, Bydgoszcz.

His high performance business made Franke's company a monopoly in the supply of alcohol in Bromberg and surrounding areas; it also created the need to solve the problem of storage, especially in winter time.

In 1893, he also had built there a modern refinery along the stream, which, together with the factory in Podwale Street reached a daily production of about 10,000 liters of spirits a day.

After Hermann Franke's death in 1913, the entire company passed into the hands of his son, Conrad, who ran the firm only four years, as he died prematurely in 1917, at age 52.

The neighbouring building at Czartoryskiego street 6, housed a public-bath, owned by Franke's company, using warm water generated during spirit production.

In the following years, this event pattern happened repeatedly, until 1882, when decision was made to build aside a brick lock with an unusual trapezoidal shape.

It was part of a new section Bydgoszcz Canal, fitted to 400-ton barges standards, along with two newly built large locks, in Okole and Czyżkówko.

In 2014, to celebrate the 240th anniversary of the Bydgoszcz Canal, embankments and walls of the old lock chamber have been unveiled and exposed in an educational and historical purposes, as a part of the revitalisation project of Brda river.

A/438/1, February 16, 1995)[38] The history of the Venice of Bydgoszcz began in the 19th century, when, along Brda river waterfront, many houses, workshops and factories were built.

In workshops were conducted various activities: At the beginning of the 20th century, the area, due to its original layout became a tourist attraction in Bydgoszcz, especially among artists (F. Gajewski, Jerzy Rupniewski, O. Sager, E. Kwiatkowski, B. Nowicki, A. Grześk-Męczyńska, Leon Płoszay, F. Konitzer, F. Brzęczkowski, Józef Pieniążek, K. Zwichel).