Jeannette and Harry Ayer moved to Mille Lacs in 1918, established a roadside trading post, and launched a fishing resort complete with cabins, a boatworks, a restaurant, and guided fishing expeditions on the lake.
By the late 1950s, the museum that the Ayers had begun in the back room of the store to display their personal collection of Indian-made objects had expanded into its own cinder-block building next door. In 1959, the Ayers retired and donated the collection, buildings and land to the Minnesota Historical Society.