Glade Flour Mill Glade Flour Mill
Flour milling in Hall County began in the early 1860s--even before the arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad. Operations were on a small scale and ran only part of the year. Local mills used a range of power sources--wind, water, and steam (from burning wood and later coal). Of all the sources, steam was the most reliable. A growing population, even by 1870, saw potential in having local mills to convert the first years' crops into critical staples of meal and flour.
Among the earliest mills operated in Grand Island was that of Koenig & Wiebe. Their combination steam-powered saw and flour mill was in operation by early 1868. The grain milling component of the business used millstones to grind grain into meal or flour. Among the first industries at the settlement, the State Central Steam Mills (as it was officially known) grew with Grand Island until a new chapter in its history began in 1884.
For this new chapter, you must be introduced to members of the Glade family. Henry Glade was born November 20, 1844 in Hanover, Germany and came to America with his family in 1848. He began a career in milling in Iowa at an early age, running a mill at Swiss Valley, Dubuque County, Iowa. Henry Glade became a partner in the Clear Creek Mills built in 1878 in Clear Creek Precinct of Polk County, Nebraska. With a brother-in-law, John G. Schaupp, Henry attempted to establish a water-powered mill on the Hall and Merrick County line a few miles southeast of Grand Island in 1882. Documentation does not explain why that project did not result in the building of a mill. The Glade & Co. Roller Mills of David City, in Butler County was operated by Henry's older brother, John D. Glade (1823-1893), who was joined by Henry for a time. John D. was also a partner in the Crete Mills in Saline County in the 1880s.
Henry Glade would return to Grand Island. It was just two years after the failed effort to build a mill nearby that newspapers reported the sale of the Henry Koenig mill to Henry Glade in February of 1884. The steam mill and four lots on the corner of Spruce and Front streets became the site of Glade & Company's Roller Mills, constructed late in 1884 to replace the old Koenig mill. The new mill was built at a cost of $30,000 and had a capacity of 200 barrels per day. Filled with "the latest improved machinery," the new business was an impressive addition to the community's skyline. The business began advertising its flour brands: White Elephant, Queen Patent, Red Lion, and Baker's Choice. 
The mill also sold rye flour, bran, shorts and chopped feed.
Products from Henry Glade & Co. became an important export for the city of Grand Island. When tough times came in the 1890s, the mill contributed 300 pounds of flour, 100 lbs. of graham flour, and 100 lbs. of corn meal to help feed the area's destitute. In 1897 the first prize for bread at the county fair was baked using Glade's "Straight" flour. By 1898 the mill employed six men, and ran up to 12 hours a day. The fall harvest was the mill's busiest time and the county's wheat acreage was twenty-five times larger in 1910 than it had been in 1895. Encouraged by this overwhelming interest in raising grain, some $5,000 of new machinery was installed by the mill in 1899.
Glade's mill was operated with a considerable amount of machinery--machines dangerous to even those who worked around them on a daily basis. A worker at the old Koenig mill was actually killed in an accident in the 1870s. Accidents tended to occur when an article of clothing caught in a belt or machine. Even Henry Glade suffered an injury when a finger was caught in an elevator in the mill in 1905. Art Glade, a son of Henry, lost the ends of three fingers in a 1903 accident.
The mill was very much a family business. For two decades, Albert Etting, brother-in-law of Henry Glade, was a partner in the mill. Mrs. Etting retained his interest in the business following his death in 1908. Eventually Henry's sons held important positions in the business. Phil and Gus Glade were employed at the mill by 1900 and Arthur Glade (1885-1965) advanced to the position of head miller in 1907. For several years the sons operated a mill at Abilene, Kansas but eventually returned to Grand Island.
The name of the mill's popular flour brand was even given to a local baseball team, the "White Elephants" in the early 1900s. A number of players from the Glade and Etting families were on the team. The team was excellent advertising for the business as the Glade boys were particularly good ballplayers. In the early 1900s Fred Glade played professionally and Phil played with semi-pro teams. They split their time between the ball diamond and the family business.
The business's success brought about several expansions and remodelings. The construction of a warehouse in 1902 prompted the demolition of the old Koenig mill, long used as a warehouse. The business added a wagon dump in 1904 for easier unloading of grain. By 1908 three to four railroad carloads of flour were shipped per day. A new office was constructed in 1909 and was popular with the office staff comfortably away from "most of the noise and dust of the mill." The mill was then running up to eighteen hours per day and the noise and dust from the operation were considerable. Hours were even longer for the 1912 season, with an average of 22.5 hours per day reported. The mill turned out 300 barrels or 1,200 sacks per day in 1910 and employed 16. Large storage tanks were built to store 45,000 bushels of grain needed to keep the mill running.
From the railroad siding along the mill, as many as six cars could be loaded at once. Some 600 carloads were reportedly shipped out of the state in a year. Wisconsin was the main state for shipments, with 50,000 barrels in 1911. The Glades did $650,000 in business that year and installed $10,000 in new equipment. The mill's capacity increased from 375 to 400 barrels per day. A 150 hp motor was installed in 1914, replacing an engine that had been used for thirty years. Additional improvements were made by the company in 1916 with the installation of more storage for grain. Flour output increased from 400 to 500 barrels per day.
Following Henry Glade's death in 1910, the business was reorganized. The Henry Glade Milling Company was incorporated with capital stock of $90,000. The Glades remained as the management. The officers of the new company were: Fred Glade (1876-1934), pres.; Lee Etting, v. p.; Phil Glade (1880-1930), sec.; and Gus Glade (1868-1952), treas.
The business took a bold step following World War I in joining with other mills to form the Nebraska Consolidated Mills Co. The new business incorporated on September 29, 1919 and the books under the old company name were closed. The general offices of the new company were to be in Grand Island and a new office was constructed in 1920. Mills joining the Grand Island mill were at Ravenna, Hastings, and St. Edward. The purchase of the Updike Mill in Omaha, with an 800 barrel daily capacity (far larger than the original four mills), brought about the move of the company offices to Omaha in 1922.
The years following the consolidation accounted for a record production from the Grand Island mill--150,000 barrels of flour were milled from 700,000 bushels of wheat in 1922. The mill also made 12,000 sacks of feed a year. The mill employed from 20-25 people in the early 1920s. They continued to produce its old favorite, "White Elephant" flour and added the new consolidated brand of "Mother's Best." Flour was also packaged under the brands for the other mills associated with Nebraska Consolidated.
Modernization was needed at Grand Island for the company to remain competitive. Large contracts were awarded in February of 1936 for the construction of a 5-story mill and large elevator. Built at Front and Eddy Streets, the new location was four blocks west of the old mill. The mill was designed with a 600 barrel capacity (the old mill had reached its limit at 500 barrels). April of 1936 saw the demolition of the old Glade mill. Workmen stripped it of equipment which was reused in the new plant and the operation was up and running at the new location in August.
When completed, the new Nebraska Consolidated Mill represented the most current milling technology and was reported to be the first air conditioned plant of its kind. The new mill boosted the company's production, which at times was still swamped with orders. A line of sixteen varieties of feed were produced. Innovation in making flour was reflected in the mill's first enriched flour (supplemented with vitamins), produced in early 1941--the same year enriched flour hit the store shelves across the nation. Advertisements for the mill's "Dixiana" pancake flour were common in the late 1940s. By 1950 the mill employed thirty and produced 173,000 pounds of flour a day.
Nebraska Consolidated had grown into one of the nation's important food processing firms by the 1960s. Another business name change occurred, placing the name of ConAgra on the Grand Island plant in February of 1971. July of 1975 brought the announcement that employees were laid off and milling had been suspended because of a drop in the government flour export business. ConAgra sold the elevator to Peavey Co. of Minneapolis, MN and January of 1976 saw a wrecking ball's demolition of the 1936 Nebraska Consolidated mill. As the bricks from the building fell, a significant era in the community's industrial production was ended.
The Grand Island mill went by each of these names at various times during its many years of operation:
o GLADE MILL o GLADE & ETTING o GRAND ISLAND ROLLER MILLS
o HENRY GLADE MILLING CO. o NEBRASKA CONSOLIDATED MILLS CO.
o CONAGRA
HALL COUNTY'S FLOUR BRANDS
Cairo: H. T. Ingalls & Son Cairo
Doniphan: Farmer's Elevator Leader Redman Grain Co.Nebraska Pride
Grand Island: Koenig & WiebeXXX O.K., Patent, Henry Glade & Co., White Elephant, Bakers Choice, Queen Patent, Red Lion, Winter Wheat Straight, Mother's Best, Hall County Roller Mills, Callalilly Pure Patent, Homer Second Patent, Golden Gate, Grand Island Mill & Elevator Co.Big Loaf, A1, Best, Blunk's MillXXX Family Allan Craig, Gold Coin
Wood River: Wood River Roller MillsWhite Cloud, Good Luck, Straight Grade, Pearl, Diamond, Verola, Clarkson Milling and Grain Co.
The community of Clarkson was founded in 1882 and in December of 1886 the first train arrived on the Chicago & North Western Railway line constructed across northern Colfax County.
By 1898 Clarkson could boast of its own flour mill, located along a railroad siding on the north end of town. Disaster struck the business when the mill was lost in a fire on September 19, 1912. According to the Clarkson Herald, the mill had been recently repaired and new machinery had been installed.
April 1913 saw construction begin on a replacement for the mill. It was to be 28 x 54 feet, with three stories and a basement. The production capacity would be 100 barrels per day. The Clarkson Milling & Grain Company was incorporated in July 1913 and late that same month the mill was completed--to begin a 38-year span of grinding flour. The plant included a 15,000-bushel elevator, constructed in 1907, which had escaped the 1912 fire. The heating and power plant was powered by a 50-hp Corliss steam engine. The mill was described as follows:
The mill is equipped with five stands, of rolls made by the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee, Wis., and cleaning, scouring, bolting, dusting, and other machinery necessary in the making of superior flour. Although the mill is young it has already established itself and will, no doubt, become a power in eastern Nebraska.
Much of the mill's equipment on its upper floors was manufactured by the Barnard & Leas Manufacturing Company of Moline, IL. Flour from the Clarkson mill was sold under the brands of "White Peony," "White Swan," "Big C," "Matchless," and "Choice Rye."
The mill was purchased by Wagner Mills of Schuyler in 1946 and the milling of flour ended five years later, in 1951. For its last 48 years the mill has largely remained as it was constructed, but used for storage on the first floor. It was in late 1999 that the original machinery from the mill was moved from Clarkson into the Stuhr Museum's mill building.