Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company
Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company was an American flour milling company that operated about one-quarter of the mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when the city was the flour milling capital of the world. Formed as a business entity, Northwestern produced flour for the half-century between 1891 and 1953, when its A Mill was converted to storage and light manufacturing. At its founding, Northwestern was the city's and the world's second-largest flour milling company after Pillsbury, with what is today General Mills a close third. The company became one of three constituents of a Minneapolis oligopoly that owned almost nine percent of the country's flour and grist production and products by 1905. This occurred as a result of their attempt at a United States monopoly.
Railways at Northwestern (left) and General Mills, (center right)
Loading flour in a boxcar, 1939
Sign for Ceresota brand flour
"The Million Bushel Elevator," Elevator A built in 1908
Charles Morgridge Loring was an American businessman, miller and publicist. Raised in Maine to be a sea captain, Loring instead became a civic leader in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he was a wealthy flour miller and in Riverside, California where he helped to build the first city hall. He was a popular and generous man who enjoyed many friendships and business associations.
Charles M. Loring
Flour leaving the Holly Mill, 1870s
Today the Soo Line is part of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Minneapolis Grain Exchange