One of the more unusual mementos from the past is an old cloth flour sack, especially if that particular sack features a brand from a mill located in Albert Lea about a century ago.

In reality, the local milling of wheat into floor actually became a concept in 1883. C. B. Thompson thought he had found the perfect place to start a flour mill in Albert Lea.

Wheat was a major crop in Freeborn County during the last half of the 19th Century. Thus, there was no problem regarding the raw material for the proposed mill.

The location Thompson selected for the new flour mill was near the corner of what’s now Euclid and Adams Avenues. This particular site also provided access to two separate railroad lines. Transportation of the flour and feed was available in all directions and that solved another potential problem.

One consideration for Thompson and his proposed mill was that of a potential market. However, this was a problem which could be coped with after the production of flour and feed products started.

Yet, there was one factor which created a problem for the new firm. It was the matter of finances. Thompson’s firm started with pledges of $5,031 from areas citizens. Unfortunately, $1,000 in pledges were never paid.

Thompson just couldn’t get the flour mill operational because of the financial problems. In the spring of 1884 a new firm, Albert Lea Mill Co., was incorporated. R. M. Todd, S. C. Jansen, D. R. P. Hibbs and Salena Todd of Albert Lea bought out Thompson, completed the mill, and actually started production.

Through the years the local flour making plant operated under several owners and corporate names. By 1912 the firm was known as the Albert Lea Flour Mills Co. which in turn was part of United Flour Mills Co. of Minneapolis.

A 1916 news item in a local newspaper reported that the local flour mill had been acquired by another Minneapolis milling firm. The news item said in part:

&uot;It will be the policy of the new Albert Lea Milling Co. to manufacture the very highest grade flour that can be milled &045; no expense will be spared to make the new flour the best that has ever been sold in Albert Lea, and the new company, with its interest and investment in Albert Lea, surely deserves the complete support of everyone in the locality.

&uot;With the excellent shipping facilities Albert Lea can offer, and the standing of the new company, our mill is sure to take a foremost place among the mills of southern Minnesota.

&uot;The closing of the mill a short time ago, on account of the going into bankruptcy of the company (the United Flour Mills Co.), was a severe blow to Albert Lea. Now that it is to start up with an increased capacity and in the hands of the most competent and experienced men, it should be patronized by every merchant and citizen in Albert Lea, if they put out a high grade of flour, which without the slightest doubt, they will do.

&uot;The mill will pay the highest market price for wheat at all times. This will attract farmers from a long distance to come to the city to do their trading.&uot;

In February 1917 at a meeting of the Business Men’s League (a predecessor or the Chamber of Commerce) the following report was made:

Manager J. R. Caldwell of the Mills of Albert Lea was called upon and made the important announcement that the local mill would be doubled in capacity in the near future, making it a thousand barrel mill. He said that many changes and improvements had already been made on the interior of the mill and that prospects for a continued growth of the business were

never better.&uot;

Through the years the local flour mill under its various corporate names developed market outlets for its products in the region based on south Minnesota and north Iowa. These markets included bakeries, general stores, neighborhood grocery stores, and wholesale firms like Albert Lea’s Western Grocer Co.

Also, during its approximately 54 years of existence, the Albert Lea mill produced flour with a variety of brand names. The first two could have been &uot;Sunrise&uot; and &uot;Albert Lea &uot; brands. Other brand names featured on the cloth sacks were &uot;High Toned,&uot; &uot;Golden Eagle,&uot; &uot;Rosalea,&uot; &uot;Creation,&uot; &uot;Bakers,&uot; &uot;Queen,&uot; &uot;Minnesota Straight,&uot; and what may have been the last brand, &uot;Cream O’the Crop.&uot;

It would be interesting to know if the local mill used the interesting gimmick used by several other milling firms of that era. These firms used printed patterns on their cloth flour and feed sacks. (The flour sacks may have had separate cloth or paper labels.) Then when the sacks were emptied, several sacks with the same pattern could be combined by a clever seamstress to create homemade dresses, blouses and shirts.

And even the plain flour sacks could be converted into cloth dish towels.

Through the years of its existence the Albert Lea flour mill had to contend with a problem faced by grain elevators – fire. The local mill sustained three losses from fires and continued to operate. However, a fourth fire finally ended the existence of this flour milling firm.

Part two will include details about one of Albert Lea’s most spectacular fires of the last century and what replaced the pioneer Albert Lea flour mill.