Yesterday And Today, A Salute to Blyth's 125th Anniversary, 2002-07-31, Page 26Ivug5cDg
t_lr-r 1-1
from
• Sales
• Leasing
• Parts
• Service
MOTORS
INC.
FARM MACHINERY REPAIRS
39912 Londesboro Road,
RR #1 LONDESBORO
(519) 523-4851
‘,0410,tatiaki
c ee,
7on your 4ae
i
125th Anniversary
Daiwa .eangman, 2ea Biala, Saaie
Neatfiet Van 0a4p,, ann Nealit, Candace ehaffe
Serving Blyth and area for over 100 years
CIBC
Blyth - 523-4247
PAGE 26: THE CITIZEN, YESTERDAY and TODAY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 31. 2002.
Milling flour has a long tie to the history of Blyth
The monster that swallowed a mill
When it opened in 1902 The Blyth Standard called the mill at the left "the
great mill" but as Howson and Howson's operation grew, the building has
long since been swallowed up by additions to all sides and even the top.
In 2002 there are still a couple of places where you can spot the brick from
the original mill.
If you look high up on the walls of
the Howson and Howson Limited
flour mill. either from Mill Street or
from the Greenway Trail behind the
mill, you can still see a small portion
of brick wall showing. That wall
represents the history of flour
milling in Blyth prior to the purchase
of the mill by the Howson family in
1947. -The rest of the huge structure
represents the changes since the
family took over.
Those remnants of brick are
reminders of the proud day on Jan.
31, 1902 when the "great mill", as
The Blyth Standard called it. swung
into action for the first time. This 45-
by-36-foot three-storey brick mill
was a replacement for the earlier
mill which had burned in a
mysterious fire in May, 1901. That
earlier mill had begun in 1855 when
Joseph Whitehead of Clinton built
the lust grist mill in Blyth, shortly
after the first settlers had arrived on
the farms in the area.
Establishment of that mill must
have been a relief for the farmers
who had to travel 10 miles. over the
muddy trails that passed as roads in
those early times. in order to get
wheat ground for their families'
bread. Often a pioneer would sling a
sack of wheat over his shoulder and
walk the distance there and back.
The milling business in Blyth
really started to grow in 1866 when
Joseph Whitehead and his son
Charles, who had been •running the
mill, sold it to Patrick Kelly, the
ambitious entrepreneur who would
become Blyth's first reeve in 1877.
Kelly sometimes ran the mill
himself, sometimes leased it to
others but when his son John
became old enough and trained as a
flour mill operator, he took over
running the plant which became
known-as Kelly and Son.
During the Kelly years the mill
prospered. The Goderich Signal
noted in 1876 that the mill was
producing so much flour a couple
more coopers (barrel makers —
goods were shipped in barrels in
those days) had moved to town.
In 1888 The Clinton New Era
reported that the mill had switched
to a roller process from a stone-
grinding process to increase capacity
to 100 barrels a day.
In 1892 The Huron Expositor
reported the Kellys were to install a
100-horsepower wheelo.ck engine.
That engine also powered the
generator for Blyth's fire electric
light plant which was located at the
mill.
After Patrick Kelly died in 1894,
his son sold the mill. A number of
different owners were involved in.
the next few years until a fire in 1901
destroyed the building. At the time
of the fire the mill was owned by
Augustus Boehmer of Berlin
(today's Kitchener) and rented by W.
H. Finnemore.
Boehmer had $8,500 worth of
insurance on the mill and elevator,
which were valued at $8.000 but
Finnemore had only $2,500 in
insurance and lost $4,800 worth of
flour, wheat, bags, etc. At first he
considered rebuilding but later gave
up the idea.
The mill meant so much to the
village that when a Mr. Beese of St.
Marys approached council about a
$6,000 interest-free loan to rebuild
the mill council agreed, also giving a
10-year tax exemption. The contract
was given in October and by January
the mill was open — including that
bit of wall now barely visible in the
Howson and Howson complex.
When Fred Howson, who as a
partner with his father Frank owned
a mill in Wingham, took over the
Blyth mill from Irvine Wallace on
March 1, 1947. it had just one
electric light bulb. Power at that time
came from a coal-fired steam
engine.
Fred was already the third
generation of Howsons in the
milling business. His grandfather
William James Howson and his
twin, Archibald McKinnon Howson,
had first learned the milling business
at Norval, Ont. William later went to
Teeswater, then Wingham while
Archibald moved to Arthur.
Fred and his father decided to
return to making flour as well as
feed at the Blyth mill. The mill had
only ground feed since 1934. They
re-equipped the flour mill starting in
May 1947 and brought it into
production in July 1948. Prior to
411o,
CHRYSLER
Dodge
its purchase by the Howsons the mill
employed three people and had one
truck. By the time the flour mill was
up and running there were 12
employees in the mill.
A new office and flour warehouse
were built at the west end of the
building in 1948.
The next big expansion was
brought about by a tragedy at the
Wingham mill which was struck by
lightning and burned to the ground
in 1950. Rather than rebuild in
Wingham the family decided to
expand the Blyth flour mill and
divide feed production between the
Blyth feed mill and one in Cargill,
which the family had purchased in
1949.
Five new wheat silos, each capable
of holding 140 tons, were built. A
new feed warehouse was added.
In 1951 the feed mill was
renovated with new equipment. The
following year it was the turn of the
flour mill to be expanded. The mill
was expanded again in 1.955 and in
1957. By then the mill was handling
nearly three times the capacity of the
mill in 1947. Much of the production
went to General Bakeries,
McCormicks Cookies and Cbristies
as well as exports to Britain.
By 1960 bulk handling equipment
has been added and a pneumatic
system replaced the bucket elevators
for conveying product within the
mill. The mill was producing flour
for the cake and pastry industry as
well as exporting through Russia to
Cuba.
Canada's centennial year in 1967
saw a tripling of capacity in the feed
mill and a new office and showroom
building was added to the west end,
allowing the old office to become
part of the warehouse. More new
equipment in 1969 again increased
feed capacity.
But if the feed business was
expanding. a slowdown in the flour
business caused concern at this
point. In 1971 the company went in
a totally new direction contracting
with Lancia Bravo Foods of Toronto
to mill Durum semolina and Durum
flour for making pasta. The mill was
remodelled to install special
machinery to mill the wheat.
The arrangement lasted 20 years
until Lancia-Bravo decided to shut
down their Toronto operation in
1991. The mill's market was
drastically reduced and new
customers had to be found. Still, the
capacity of the flour operation was
increased in 1996 and again in
1997. Today the capacity of the flour
mill is more than 20 times what it
was when Howsons bought the mill
in 1947.
By 1972 all four of Fred and Mary
Howson's sons were involved in the
company: Jim who began in 1960.
Bill who joined in 1961, Doug in
1964 and Bruce in 1972.
In 1999 the last interior indication
of the original brick mill disappeared
when the deteriorating walls and
floors were replaced with concrete.
Meanwhile, in 1977 the company
had bought land east of Blyth at the
Continued on page 31
Full line of new & pre-
owned
cars & trucks North end of Brussels
887-6173 1-800-482-7864