General Mills Buffalo (Buffalo, New York)

USA / New York / Buffalo / Buffalo, New York
 mill, grain elevator / grain silos
General Mill's Buffalo factory is a large scale grain mill and cereal production facility, most notably producing Gold Medal brand flour, Wheaties, Cheerios and other General Mills brand cereals.

Situated on the tip of Kelly's Island, the present-day location of General Mills was previously occupied by no fewer than six different grain elevators at the turn of the century; each taking advantage of the site's waterfront access to transship milled and raw grain from lake freighters onto canal barges. Starting in 1903, the Washburn-Crosby Milling Company of Minneapolis purchased one of the milling and storage facilities along the City Ship Canal on Michigan Avenue and began operations in the prosperous Buffalo grain trade. Within twenty years, Washburn-Crosby had purchased every piece of property North of Michigan Ave, and began to consolidate the numerous facilities into one enormous mill and grain handling facility, utilizing the Frontier, Dakota and Washburn-Crosby grain elevators along the City Ship Canal to import grain from lake freighters.

The large and modern facility was taken over by General Mills in 1928 following their purchase of Washburn-Crosby, and underwent further changes to streamline the import, storage, milling and production of grain onsite. Several of the original 1900-era wooden silos were razed and a consolidated milling and cereal production facility was added on the site of Washburn-Crosby's original facility. General Mills continued to operate two elevators alongside the City Ship Canal until the 1960's, though the Dakota Elevator was used primarily as a storage facility until it was demolished in 1965.

Today the General Mills facility employs over 50 full time workers and functions as one of the main cereal production facilities for General Mills. The Frontier Elevator continues to receive and store regular grain loads from lake freighters, which are then distributed to each section of the mill for processing. Packaging, storage and loading facilities distribute the finished flour and cereal products via truck or the nationwide rail network to consumers.

www.generalmills.com/
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   42°52'16"N   78°52'35"W

Comments

  • Love the smell
  • Now I know why a General Mills plant is located in Buffalo.:-)
This article was last modified 12 years ago