Sept. 1, 2010
KCK flour mill was one of largest of its time
Shown on this promotional postcard for the Southwest Milling Company is the company’s “A” mill, built in 1913 near present day 18th Street and Kansas Avenue on the banks of the Kansas River.
Advertised as fireproof and of the most modern construction, the plant was Southwestern Milling’s flagship plant along the Kaw River for many years. Upon its completion, its output was roughly 4,000 barrels of flour a day. The banks of the Kansas River were largely barren at the turn of the 20th century. By 1911, however, more than 17 mills had located along its banks in Armourdale, Argentine and Kansas City, Kan., which collectively could process and store more than 6.5 million bushels of wheat per day.
The mill shown on this postcard boasted that no hand touched the wheat during the milling process in order to maintain the most sanitary conditions for food production. By 1928 the mill had almost doubled in size and was acquired by Standard Milling, making it the largest processor of Turkey Red Winter wheat in the world. Turkey Red Wheat was the strain of hardy winter wheat brought to central Kansas by Russian Mennonites in the 1880s.
Due to its location on the banks of the Kansas River, the mill sustained serious damage in the flood of 1951, was closed and all of its machinery dismantled and either sold or sent to other mill locations in the Midwest.
The hulking structure stood vacant for more than 30 years, and most of the grain elevators shown in this postcard were razed in order to make way for the new”18th Street Expressway. The plant still operates under the Caravan Ingredients brand, a manufacturer of baking additives sold primarily to wholesale bakers across the country.
Michael
Bushnell
