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Buy yourself a little piece of Nebraska history at Wauneta's Roller Mill
by Gene O. Morris

As the world spins into the future with ever-increasing changes in technology, it is comforting to take a step back in time. To do so, there's no better place than the Wauneta Roller Mill, a family-owned business which has operated almost unchanged since the day it opened in 1925.

Raymond Maxfield, 92; Jean Maxfield Maris, 86; Dorthy Maxfield Dudek,82; and Jim Maxfield, 69, have kept the milling tradition alive, doing things very much like their father and grandfather, Bert Maxfield, did in the mid-1920s.

During the peak of popularity for small town flour mills, more than 300 were in operation in Nebraska. In the late 19th Century and well into the 20th there were mills in almost every county of Nebraska, with even the smallest towns having a mill to grind wheat and other grains. The twentieth century brought the elimination of the small mills as the milling industry became centered in the larger towns. Now, Wauneta Roller Mill is one of the few—if not the only—small town flour mill still in production in the state. As an added distinction, the Wauneta Roller Mill was named to the National Register of Historic Places on March 12, 2008.

While the Wauneta mill has remained in operation, other Nebraska mills have closed, including the one in Neligh, which is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the mill in Humboldt, which stopped producing flour in the 1980s. The mill in Humboldt is still standing, but, regretfully, Editor Jack Cooper of the Humboldt Standard says the building is steadily deteriorating.

Hopefully, that is a fate the Wauneta Roller Mill can avoid. However, there's a problem: the Maxfields don't know how much longer they can keep the mill going.

Time for some new blood

"It's a good business," Raymond and Jim Maxfield said. "But the years are marching by. It's time that we stepped aside and let some younger folks take over the flour and feed business."

It's an exceptional accomplishment — in the year 2011, Wauneta Roller Mill is still a going business with a loyal customer base in Nebraska and Colorado. And, even after all these years, Wauneta's Best Flour and feed products are regarded as among the finest you can find anywhere.

Even so, it's going to take some special kind of people to carry forward the Wauneta Roller Mill's 86-year tradition of quality and service. The new owners will need to have the same commitment as the Maxfields do to hard work, proven methods of production, and exacting quality formulations.

Opportunity knocking

Those time-honored qualities — in combination with a well-targeted targeted marketing campaign—offer the opportunity for an on-going market for artisan flour and feed products. There is both pride in the past and potential for the future because the Maxfields have maintained top quality with old ways of doing things.

There's not a single computer on the premises. No one, at work, has an e-mail account. That's the beauty, the challenge and the potential of it. The brand is strong; the product is in place; it's just a matter of spreading the word and getting the product to new customers in a new era.

When the mill opened in 1925, the only product was flour, sold in 48-pound cotton sacks. Over the years, flour has remained the mill's leading product, but now it is produced in a variety of sizes. At the retail level, Wauneta's Best Flour choices include 10-pound cotton bags; 25-pound cotton bags; and 50-pound bags in the customer's choice of paper or cotton sacks.

The cotton sacks come in prints, bringing back memories of the flour and feed sack dresses which many farm wives and their daughters wore in the 'Teens, '20s and '30s. While the sack dress era has faded away, the color patterned sacks are valued now mainly for quilts and craft projects.

In recent years, the feed business has become an essential part of the Maxfields' milling operation. With the help of calculations done by Jean Maxfield Maris, the Wauneta Roller Mill has produced a range of feeds for cattle, sheep, chickens, pigs, ostriches and game birds. It's an exacting process, as the feeds are specially blended, including precise formulas containing calcium, minerals and antibiotics in combination with wheat, corn, milo, soybeans and alfalfa.

Open to negotiation

So, all you young entrepreneurs take notice. This is a truly unique opportunity to move a proven product from the past into a new place in the future. It will require hard work and smart marketing, merchandising and distribution, but the right team could keep the tradition alive, making sure that Wauneta's Best flour and feed remains just that, the best, for years to come.

To get started down the path to ownership, give the Maxfields a call at 308-394-5698. How much are they asking? That's open for negotiation. "We'll talk about price when they call," Raymond said, hinting that prospective buyers can expect reasonable terms for a historic Nebraska business enterprise.

Gene O. Morris is the retired publisher of the McCook Daily Gazette. Gene currently serves as the Western Nebraska Field Representative for Heritage Nebraska. He may be reached by e-mail at geneomorris@yahoo.com, or by telephone at 308-340-5972.

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