Have you ever wondered what goes on in a mill elevator? If so, here is how it all works.

Now that you know how a mill elevator works. Lets learn a little more about ours. Our Grain Elevator in Millstadt was built in 1880. It is the oldest one still operating in the state of Illinois today.  

Millstadt Milling & Feed Company has been in continuous operation for over 160 years and houses THE oldest still-operable grain elevator in the state of Illinois.   The Mill was originally founded in 1857 at its current location at Jefferson and Laurel Streets. One Hundred and forty-years ago, in 1880, Fred Backer and Christian Stern added a wheat elevator to the site.    

The crib-form grain elevator is typical of the late 1800s grain elevators, and was constructed of wood two-by-sixes horizontally stacked 65-feet high.  The Millstadt elevator was built to double the capacity of most mills constructed at that time, holding 50,000 bushels vs. 25,000.    

The Mobile & Ohio (M&O) Railroad came to town to serve the mill a few years later in 1883, and in 1900, the mill was converted to a feed mill.  The site has remained in continuous use, making the grain elevator the oldest in Illinois still operable.     

Not just the building and site are historic, the mill is also still home to over 40 pieces of antique grain cleaning and processing equipment that are over 110 years old, and still in good shape.   

In 1985, the St Clair County Historical Society recognized the importance of this long-operating site through its Landmark Award program.  The Millstadt Mill was also named to the Landmarks Illinois 2019 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois and featured in publication by the St Clair County Historical Society in 2019.  

The mill has been visited in the past two years by several prestigious historians and experts, masons, and architects, traveling in from around the country, who marvel at the workmanship and preservation of early milling methods and building materials used, from the limestone foundation to the hand stacked bricks and lumber, to the 12x12 wooden beams, to 150-year old solid timber framing and flooring.   

We are lucky to still have the opportunity to preserve this amazing piece of history for the Village of Millstadt for generations to come.