Hayden Flour Mill - Mills and Gins on Waymarking.com

Hayden Flour Mill


The Hayden Flour Mill was created in 1870 by Charles Trumbull Hayden and his family. In 1872 the mill officially opened, creating not only an employee base for a small rural town, but the start up of what would become the city we know today - Tempe.

The original Hayden Flour Mill, powered by the then-flowing Salt River, helped spur the development of Tempe. Its main street, Mill Avenue, was named for it.

Due to fires, the Hayden Flour Mill was rebuilt. The Hayden Flour Mill is the oldest cast-in-place, reinforced concrete building in Tempe. The technology used at the mill developed in response to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Although reinforced concrete had been used on the West Coast during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, in 1906 it was still in the early stages of development. After the success of this technology in 1906, architects worked to improve its ability to withstand seismic forces. By 1918, they were erring on the side of safety, and today the mill stands in testimony to this conservative engineering.

The existing mill began operations on July 10, 1918, and was built by prominent valley concrete contractor, J. C. Steele.

On October 10, 1984, upon completion of a substantive review, the Keeper determined the Hayden Flour Mill eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places at the State Level of Significance. The Hayden Flour Mill & Silos remain today with their original integrity only slightly modified over the years to accommodate the evolution of complex milling practices.

The Hayden Flour Mill was the larger of two such mills in the state until April 01, 1998, when Bay State Milling stopped operation ending the longest run of continuous use for an industrial building in the Valley.

In early territorial days the product of this mill was carried in freight wagons and by pack-trains to most of the mining camps and military posts in the Territory and its output was estimated in millions of dollars. Army and government contracts running into hundreds of thousands of dollars were filled from this mill and Hayden Flour was known in every town and mining camp in Arizona. The Salt River Pima Indians grew wheat which they brought to the mill by horseback, and Hayden established trading posts on the Gila River Indian Reservation to supply the mill. Hayden Mills flour sacks were an important source of children’s clothing for many pioneer families. The mill, along with Hayden’s store, warehouses, blacksmith shop, and ferry, became the trade center for the south side of the Salt River Valley.

For fifty years this location was the site of water-powered grain milling. A contract for electrification of the mill was approved by the Board of Governors of the Salt River Project Water Users Association on Thursday, June 7, 1923. On February 6, 1924, SRP began installing a 11,000 volt electric line along First Street at the Tempe Milling Company's plant to replace the water power which had operated the mill for half a century.

Over the mill's lifetime, it grew bigger, abandoning the stone mills for mechanized roller machines that could run 24 hours a day. The mill was bought by a larger milling company, started getting its wheat from the Midwest and became more disconnected from its roots.

According to an Arizona Republic story from the mid-1980s, a city official mistakenly told a reporter the mill had closed, even though it was still churning out thousands of pounds of flour each day.

The mill was owned by the Hayden family until 1981, when it was bought by Bay State Milling. Since then the mill has suffered multiple fires and was forced to close their doors in 1998.

On April 1, 1998, Bay State Milling ceased milling operations at Hayden Flour Mill, ending the longest run of continuous use for an industrial building in the Valley.

For nearly 15 years, the space laid vacant and unutilized until 2012 when it was re-purposed as the event venue it is today. Now this historic site has returned as a place of prominence.

Year built?: 1870 Is the mill or gin still in operation?: No What is or was processed here?: Flour Are tours available?: Unknown How is or was it powered?: Originally by water from the nearby Salt River, then electricity Related link to this waymark.: [Web Link] What is it used as today?: Not listed

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