Columbia Milling Company and the MFA Tower

On February 6, 1882, the Columbia Milling Company was incorporated with General Odon Guitar as president. Agriculture was the main business in Columbia and Mid-Missouri for most of their early history. Grist mills and grain elevators were an important business in Columbia and the surrounding farms would bring corn and wheat to be ground into flour. Many of the early grist mills were along creeks and powered by water. Grindstone Creek is named after the rock outcrops along its course that were used to carve grindstones for the mills. One famous mill was located south of Columbia near the Rock Bridge in what is now Rock Bridge State Park.

William Switzler describes the Columbia Milling Company in his 1882 History of Boone County:

“The Columbia Milling Company was incorporated February 6, 1882, with a cash capital of $60,000. Its members are Gen. O. Guitar, president; G. W. Henderson, vice-president and superintendent; F. Pannell, secretary; J. M. Baker, treasurer, and W. T. Anderson. The company owns the Columbia flouring mills, which have a capacity of 150 barrels daily; the Columbia wheat elevator, with a capacity of 100,000 bushels, and the Centralia corn elevator, with a capacity of 50,000 bushels. The Columbia flouring mills have five stones, one pair of rolls, 22 hovels, and run night and day. The engine is of 80 horse power.

The Farmers' Mills are situated on a one and a half acre lot in the northwestern part of the city. The main building is 24x10 feet, with a wing 12x20. The flouring mill contains three run of burrs, and uses the Morse elevating bolt. 'The machinery is driven by an engine of forty-horse power. The mill has a capacity of 40 barrels of flour in ten hours, and 150 bushels of corn meal. The saw mill cuts 6,000 feet of lumber per day. Ten men are employed in the mill. The mill building is entirely new, completed in the summer of 1882. It is three and one-half stories high including the basement. Maupin, Smith & Co., proprietors. Superintendent, R. H. Smith, a practical miller of 35 years experience.”

Other mills and grain elevators operated in the 20th century. In the 1960s, the Missouri Farmers Association grain elevator on Paris Road was constructed. It was an iconic landmark of north Columbia, emblazoned in red with “MFA”, and could be seen from I-70. The tower stood for almost 50 years until its demolition in 2021. In 2023, milling and grain storage no longer plays a significant role in Columbia’s economy.

MFA Grain Elevator Tower

From Facebook MFA Agri Services - Columbia

Partially Demolished MFA Tower

Posted to Facebook on “You Know You're From Columbia When... by Uwe Lochner on March 3, 2021.

Drone footage of the MFA Tower. From Youtube, taken by Devodare_Chicago, uploaded September 12, 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFWN3x1u7kM&ab_channel=Devodare_Chicago

Concerned by the destruction of iconic Columbia landmarks, our group, CoMo Preservation, hopes to help homeowners, landlords, and institutions prevent the destruction of historic architecture. Original period styles might be replicated, but will forever lack the social history of authentic structures. The preservation of historic buildings is necessary for Columbia’s residents, students, and visitors to achieve a sense of place and, it follows, for our city’s continued economic success. If you want to join us in our mission sign up for our mailing list to receive news and updates.


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Matt Fetterly

Matt was born in Columbia, Missouri and is an 8th generation Boone Countian. He is an alumni of Hickman High School and the University of Missouri. Since 2011 he has worked for Shakespeares Pizza, as a truck driver and distribution manager, visiting and selling locally produced frozen pizza in all 115 Missouri counties, as well as Kansas, Illinois, and Nebraska. He is also a professional percussionist, working at the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre since 2012, and has performed with the Maples Repertory Theatre, Central Methodist Theater, University of Missouri Theater, Columbia Entertainment Company, Talking Horse Productions, Maplewood Barn Theater, Columbia Community Band, Columbia Jazz Orchestra, Columbia Civic Orchestra, Columbia Chorale, The Tipper Gores, Columbia Handbell Ensemble, and the 9th Street Philharmonic. A lifelong love of Columbia inspired him to preserve a growing collection of over 170 books about Columbia and Boone County. A related project is preserving and cataloguing books and ephemera manufactured by the E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, once Columbia’s largest business. He specializes in local natural history, black history, indigenous history, lgbtq+ history, and cultural history more generally (particularly architecture, music, art, theater, and cemeteries). When not playing music or writing about local history, he enjoys hiking, caving, camping, and floating, in the forest and prairies of Mid-Missouri.

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Ashland Gravel Road And The Hinkson Creek Bridge

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Dr. Clarence E. Lemmon and Educational Building