Biographical Sketch of Holden Milling & Elevator Co., Johnson County, Missouri, Holden. >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** The Holden Milling & Elevator Company, one of the live and important manufacturing concerns of Johnson county, is the outcome of 45 years growth in the milling business in Holden. Its predecessor was the Smith & Conner Mill, established in 1872 by J. H. Smith and H. C. Conner, the former of whom is deceased and the latter is located in Wichita, Kansas. The first milling machinery to be placed in opera- tion in the mill was brought from Warrensburg in charge of a colored machinist and engineer named Columbus Dower. This mill was operated by Smith & Conner, a firm until 1890, when Mr. Conner purchased the interest of Mr. Smith and then formed a partnership with G. H. Schei- denberger and L. Hank in 1896. The mill was operate4d under the firm name of the Conner Milling & Elevator Company, a grain elevator being erected in 1891. The old mill structure was burned in 1899 and the new enlarged building was then erected. The company was incorporated in 1900 with Mr. Conner, president; Mr. Hank, vice-president; and Mr. Scheidenberger, secretary and treasurer. In May of 1903, Mr. Conner disposed of his holdings in the company to H. F. Kirk and new incor- poration papers and a change of name were made in 1906, the name being changed to Holden Milling & Elevator Company. Mr. Kirk served as the president from 1903 to 1908 and was then succeeded by Mr. Hank, who has since filled that position. Mr. Halsey became secretary and trea- surer and remained in that capacity until 1910 when Mr. Bluhm pur- chased the Halsey interests. The daily capacity of the mill is 200 barrels of flour and 100 barrels of meal and the business is in a flourishing condition. The present officers of the Holden Milling & Elevator Company are: L. Hank, president; T. J. Halsey, secretary and treasurer; W. H. Hagenmeyer, vice-president; all the foregoing being directors with H. L. Bluhm, who is the miller in charge of the plant. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: <> Penny Harrell ====================================================================