Basically, some guys were working in a local bike shop and found themselves a bit bored (and cold) in the middle of a Nebraska winter. Somebody had the idea of trying to actually make the usual "shop" coffee better, and it shortly became a bit of a obsession/contest amongst the group. Soon friends (and friends of friends) started hanging around as much for the coffee as the bikes, and an idea formed: Lincoln could really use an actual coffee house.

The Mill became a business of it's own in a tiny space in downtown Lincoln. Several moves later---each motivated by demand for more coffee, espresso, and tea, and more space in which to congregate around it---the primary Mill now resides in it's (hopefully) permanent home in an old brick warehouse in the downtown "Haymarket" district. Our second location, in Lincoln's College View neighborhood, opened in December of 2001.