Ivan Caklec's watermill or “Papirnica” (Eng. Stationer's)

The watermill used to be called “Papirnica” after the entire nearby property site that was first owned by the Ivanec Parish. Vjekoslav Cingula was its next owner, followed by the Herg family, who owned the place until 1965. Danica Herg was the one who took care of the watermill. After the 60's it was owned by Ivan Čaklec's famous family of millers. His wife Anđela Čaklec took care of the watermill. She passed exams to get the miller's certificate and was the true owner of the place. The watermill also had a room where people used to bring their wheat and wait their turn. There was also a barn for horse-drawn vehicles. The watermill was built from solid materials so that it exists even today. Two large waterwheels drove the mill. There is an interesting writing in the “Varaždinski vjesnik” (Eng. Varaždin Herald) from 1890, Issue 27: “The Ivanec parish watermill with two waterwheels is for rent from 1 October this year. Additional terms and conditions can be obtained at the Ivanec parish house.”
Before the Second World War a turbine was installed at the watermill, which was powered by electricity since 1969. The watermill was operating regularly even in 2007 thanks to the hard-working 89-year-old owner.
There are some very interesting facts about Ivan Čaklec, who even performed the reconstruction of an 8-metre-high waterwheel at Pust's watermill. Moreover, he also made two wooden waterwheels for Friščić's watermill, the last of which was installed in 2004. Besides that, he built waterwheels for other important watermills in Ivanec too.
In 1945, an interesting fact about Ivanec's watermills from the chronicles of the town of Varaždin was published in the “Hrvatsko jedinstvo” (Eng. Croatian Unity), stating, “In December of 1783 the winter was so harsh that the ice on the Drava tore watermills apart. This unfortunate event stroke the townspeople, soldiers and villagers really hard because grains could not be ground. Without flour, there was also no bread or buns. In the time of trouble, the town district asked the county to inform millers in Ivanec that millers from Varaždin were going to grind wheat at their watermills.”
The writing confirms the importance of the long-lasting economic activity of Ivanec's watermills, which operated thanks to the waterpower of the Bistrica mountain stream.
The newspaper citation helps us understand the importance of Ivanec's watermills at that time, especially if we consider the fact that, aside from the smaller ones, there were also two large watermills (Pust's watermill and Kukuljević-Reiter's watermill).