Allenton, Wi – The old Farmers Grain & Feed building on Railroad Street in Allenton, Wi is down. The building dates to the 1920s when area farmers would bring their John Deere’s and little gravity wagons or even horse-drawn wagons and dump their feed and ear corn and get it ground and other ingredients added and then back out to the farm it goes.
Photos courtesy Ron Naab.
Tim Kreilkamp is the owner of the mill. The 100-year-old building sits to the west of the railroad track and just south of Highway 33. “The Hess family were the original owners,” said Kreilkamp, who purchased the property in 2006. “We got it from Terry Theusch and Dave Schellinger.”
Terry Theusch courtesy Korey Theusch
Old Farmers Grain & Feed building on Railroad Street in Allenton
Kreilkamp said the silos will stay; the production facility is coming down. “It’s the middle section that’s coming down from the office to the warehouse,” said Kreilkamp. “One of the key parts is when we’re dismantling this, nothing will be going to a landfill. Everything will be reused or scrapped.”
Old Farmers Grain & Feed building on Railroad Street in Allenton
Dust from the working days of the elevator rest atop empty white feed sacks. Dry wheat chaff and random kernels of corn are tucked into corners by grain bins or surround the flooring around thick wooden beams of a doorframe.
“Over in this section over here there’s a hammer mill down in the basement that would be driven by a big motor,” said Jon Schrock with Midwest Welding. “That would grind the feed and then air would be used to blow it upstairs where it goes in a distributor and then it falls into the mixer’s over here.”
Schrock will be dismantling the dinosaur of a building. “Everything that was in the bulk trucks for a delivery came out of these mixers,” he said.
Wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and dusty overalls, Schrock surveys the interior of the building armed with a strong knowledge of farming and grain elevators; this is not his first rodeo.
“Here would have been ingredient bins and they would have put the raw ingredients like oats and corn up in the bins and then they come down through these shoots and they’d use these weigh buggies to weigh it and then mix it, add mineral salt and stuff and a truck would back up to the door and the product would get bagged and thrown into the truck,” he said.
The old production facility is coming down because it is no longer in use. In November 2021 the new Farmers Grain & Feed opened up the hill at 6868 Spruce Court, in Allenton, just northwest of Highway 175 and STH 33.
The mammoth structure features a new pellet mill and an additional grinder which allowed the facility to process four times the volume. “The new facility added more jobs and encouraged more agricultural opportunity across Washington County,” said Kreilkamp.
At the old Farmers Grain & Feed, memories of a vibrant era of farming are worn into the fabric of the building. Now gone are the loud days when grains would flow through the colorful bins and an array of pullies would be drawn into action as simple signage kept the mill grinding and the economy in Allenton humming.
As of the publishing of this story, no historic treasures have been found between the walls. But stay tuned….
If you have any memories of the old Farmers Grain & Feed, feel free to post them below. A second article with a photo gallery is in the works.
Korey Theusch As mentioned in the article, one of the previous owners of the Mill.
My late Father, Terry Theusch.
Korey Theusch Terry was a great man. I especially remember him putting up Christmas decorations in Allenton with a forklift in not so nice weather. He did love his community. You won’t see commitment like that nowadays from most business owners.
Bill Debbie Bingen, certainly remember that. He also took out the ice at the KM Ice Arena. Thank you
Bill Debbie Bingen 100% correct. Every Washington County Fair I am reminded of their community support, specifically the naming rights on the “Farmers Inc of Allenton” beef barn.
We drove our bikes past there many, many times years ago going to grade school across from Zuern’s. The look of Allenton certainly has changed through the years.
Years ago back in the late 60s, my Grandpa Gilbert would take me along to Allenton. There was Hubies Hardware, Gepharts Meat Market & Farmers Implement plus Feed Mill. Most of shopping was done in Allenton. Great memories, now it’s all corporate and nothing is left. The little Farmer is forced out !!
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