Brown County’s flour mill history on display at museum | News, Sports, Jobs - The Journal

Jun 26, 2024

Brown County Historical Society Collections Curator Ryan Harren shows different flour mills on a map specially made for their new exhibit chronicling the county’s milling history.

NEW ULM – The latest exhibit at the Brown County Historical Society’s Museum showcases the area’s flour mill history from 1850 to 1985.

Collections Curator Ryan Harren said the exhibit, located on the second floor, is the latest in a series on “Becoming Brown County”. He said the museum had previously done exhibits on transportation history and the pottery industry in this area.

Now the museum is showcasing its collection of milling artifacts, which Harren said had been collected since the 1970s.

“We have production artifacts on display from Brown County mills,” he said. “We’ve got some millstones from the New Ulm mills. We also have marketing artifacts. Some items were used by the Sleepy Eye mill. They were worn by Native Americans the mill employed to help them advertise for the mill’s flour.”

Harren said many artifacts came in from the 1970s through the 1990s. A staff member dedicated their time to tracking and adding artifacts to the museum’s collection.

Ryan Harren discusses these two millstones that came from early 20th century flour mills in New Ulm, as part of a new Brown County Historical Society exhibit.

Notable artifacts include two large millstones, one found in Riverside Park by the Historical Society and another donated by the International Multifoods Corporation (IMC).

The IMC millstone is believed to have come from the Eagle Mill, which Harren said stood on First Street South and West Valley. The Riverside Park millstone originates from the Globe Mill, which stood where the park is now.

The Eagle Mill burned down in 1910 when it was called the Empire Mill. Charred grain salvaged from this fire is also part of the museum’s display.

Harren said most of the work that went into the exhibit was tracking down all of the mills in Brown County, including those only operational for a handful of years. He said he wanted to avoid only covering the big mills or mills in New Ulm.

The museum is always on the lookout for historical artifacts, and Harren believes there are more out there that could contribute to the exhibit.

“There was a big windmill that used to sit where the funeral home is today,” Harren said. “That was the Schramm Mill. It would be great if we could have artifacts from that mill. It operated for almost 20 years, it wasn’t a short-term mill.”

Harren said the most difficult part was getting information from old German newspapers that covered the mills. He said he is not fluent in German, which made deciphering what they wrote difficult.

The exhibit will run from now until Spring 2025. For more information, visit https://www.browncountyhistorymn.org/

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