Springfield Flour Mill
MFA Buys Springfield Flour Mill, to Use it for Feed Manufacture
Springfield Leader & Press, December 4, 1951
"The MFA Milling Company, 506 Boonville, has purchased the Springfield Flour Mills, 602 North National, J. F. Johnson, general manager of the MFA mill, revealed today.
"Johnson made the announcement after The Leader and Press asked him about the report of the purchase. He said the MFA Milling Company was buying the big flour mill--the last flour mill left in the area--from the Colorado Milling and Elevator Company of Denver, which has operated the mill for many years.
"MFA will convert it into a mill for feed manufacture and feed and grain storage, Johnson said.
"The company also expects to do some remodeling and to use it, in part, for a receiving station for grain grown in the area, he said.
"Officials of the two companies signed the contract for the deal in Johnson’s office this afternoon. The sale price will be announced later, they said.
"Possession of the flour mill will be taken by MFA on March 1, and all its present equipment will be removed by the Colorado Company, Johnson said.
"The purchase includes the plant, the building and the elevators, which hold 300,000 bushels of grain. The property faces on National Boulevard and is 200 feet frontage and 400 feet deep. The plant, as a flour mill, will shut down when MFA takes possession and open again--with a possible turnover in employees--as a storage and feed manufacturer. The Springfield Flour mill has a colorful history. It has produced more than 3000 box car loads of flour each year at the rate of about 35,000 pounds of flour each day.
"Seven thousand bushels of wheat goes through its milling processes every 24 hours. Of its total output, only about three car loads a week have been sold in Springfield.
"The rest is shipped to various parts of the globe, including France, England, occupied Germany--some of it Marshall Plan flour--and to South America.
"The Colorado company acquired the property in 1935 from the estate of the late Jack Blair. The flour has been known as Meyer’s Model flour, from another owner.
"Grain from Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska has funneled into its mills to make the four for the world.
"Part of the original structure, built more than 50 years ago, still stands and bears the name 'Model Flour'".
The black and white image above accompanied the newspaper article. The darker building near the middle is the one with the name "Model Flour". The more recent photograph above was taken from approximately the same angle. The lower photograph is the nativity scene painted on the north side of the larger building.
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