There are two old signs on this building: The one for Claude Barry & Co. lets everyone know that this wholesale feed broker operates in part of the huge and otherwise abandoned Globe Mills warehouse-silo-factory complex here.
The second sign is the ghost sign identifying the Globe Mills flour mill, which looms over an industrial highway and railroad tangle at the desolate (but not lifeless) no-man's land between the I-10 and the US 85 in the Smeltertown area of west El Paso TX, literally a stone's throw from the Mexican border.
Globe Mills used to be a HUGE grain milling company based in Los Angeles CA, with multiple mills stretching across the country. The mill in El Paso was built to facilitate trade to Mexico, just a few hundred yards away.
The Globe Milling Co. was bought out by Pillsbury in the 1940s. The mill in El Paso closed sometime in the 1960s-70s. The Claude barry & Co. feed grain brokerage operates in part of this huge, mostly abandoned, complex.
Blasterz found a few scraps about this historic flour mill in industry publications from the 1910s.
From Vol. 75 of the Weekly Northwestern Miller of 28 Sep 1908, page 838 (a free ebook from Google): (
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"FLOUR MILL AT EL PASO
Citizens of El Paso, Tex. are hopeful of securing a flour mill for that town as a result of having interested the Globe Grain & Milling Company of Los Angeles Cal., in the plan. Representatives of that company recently met the business men of El Paso and made them a proposition whereby the Globe Company would put $75,000 into the capital of a $125,000 company if the people of El Paso would subscribe the rest of he amount. The proposed mill would have a capacity of 300bbls, with large grain storage and extensive warehouse facilities. W. E. Keller, President of the Globe Company, and W. H. Joyer, its Secretary, say they have long planned building at El Paso some day, but are now prepared, under the conditions stated, to go ahead at once.
The Globe Grain and Milling Company is a large California concern with mils at Los Angeles and warehouses and distributing stations at various points It is juts now building a mill at san Diego. Is capital is 3,000,000, and it has an earned surplus of half that amount."
We discovered in the Overland Monthly of July, 1910, that the El Paso Globe Mills complex was built in that same year. See here: (
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"[page 123] From a population of only 15,000 in 1896 El Paso has now grown to a substantial city of nearly 50,000, . . . Amongst the more notable buildings erected during the present year [1910 -- BMB] The Globe Flour Mills, $135,000, the Globe Ice & Cold Storage Co., 115,000 . . ."
Many of the old Globe flour mill buildings have been restored and reused, like the one in Sacramento CA, which has now (2014) been renovated into loft apartments. (No such fate awaits the El Paso Globe Mills building , given its ultra-gritty location between two major highways and a busy railroad corridor in Smeltertown, which is just as lovely, vibrant, healthful, and inviting as its name suggests.)
We found a document on the Sacramento CA Globe Mills Project, which contained a bit of that company's history: (
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"Globe Mills is located within the historical community of Alkali Flat/ Mansion Flat, the oldest remaining residential neighborhood in Sacramento, directly adjacent to Downtown Sacramento. The first homes in the area were built in the 1850’s and housed Sacramento’s wealthy elite. By the early 1900’s when the housing stock aged, many of the original residents moved out of downtown to new communities. During this time, commercial and industrial businesses began to locate in the area creating what still exists today, a unique community with a mix of residential and commercial/industrial uses such as Globe Mills.
Globe Mills [in Sacramento] started as Pioneer Mills in 1907. By 1907, the company had constructed several buildings. Globe Grain and Milling Company of San Francisco ,the largest flour milling company on the Pacific Coast, acquired the mill in 1919.
The Globe Company operated a number of mills in other states. Globe Mills was highly successful, generating hundreds of jobs for the region.
In 1931, The Sacramento Bee credited the Globe Company for stabilizing the Sacramento economy during the Great Depression. In 1941, as part of the Word War II effort to increase efficiency, Globe launched modernization plans for the plant, then under the ownership of Pillsbury Company. . . . . Globe continued operations until 1968 when the facility finally closed. . . . By the 1970’s, Globe Mills along with other commercial/industrial businesses in the area had closed, eliminating hundreds of jobs and leaving behind vacant buildings of the previous era. . . ."
UPDATE: As of Apr 2016 the building has been demolished for road connstruction. See: (
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"Globe Mills building coming down for highway
Vic Kolenc, El Paso Times12:18 p.m. MST January 21, 2016
A 107-year-old former flour mill — a red-brick landmark along Interstate 10, near the University of Texas at El Paso — will be demolished in the coming months to make way for the $600 million Border West Expressway.
The upcoming demolition of the former Globe Mills building has some lamenting the loss of another El Paso historical structure, while others welcome the end of what they see as an eyesore.
Max Grossman, vice chairman of the El Paso County Historical Commission, said he will be sorry to see the building, with its beautiful brickwork and important history, be lost forever. But, he said, he and the commission are not opposing the demolition because the building is in terrible condition and needs to go to expand the city's highway network.
Reactions on the commission's Facebook posting about the history of the building were a mixture of people sharing Grossman's lament, while others were happy to find out the building will be torn down.
The posting, which has drawn more than 150,000 views and hundreds of comments, shows El Pasoans are interested in the city's historical structures and architecture, Grossman said Tuesday.
Blake Barrow, chief executive officer of the Rescue Mission of El Paso, which sold the Globe Mills building and other buildings in the area to the Texas Department of Transportation for the Loop 375 extension project, said the Globe Mills building was a "beautiful, solid structure," but located in a bad place — between two busy railroad tracks and along Interstate 10.
If located in another area, it might have been possible to convert it into condos or other uses, he said.
The Rescue Mission last used part of the building as a furniture factory, Barrow said.
The mission, which is an El Paso homeless shelter, bought the Globe Mills building in 2005. It's part of a 7.5-acre mission campus with several buildings. The mission has been located in the area sandwiched between Paisano Drive and I-10 since 1985 when city leaders instigated the mission's move from an old Downtown hotel, Barrow said.
The Texas Department of Transportation has bought all of the mission's buildings through "negotiation under eminent domain," or possible condemnation, Barrow said.
McKinney Wrecking also operated a salvage store in a building next to the Globe Mills building and silos, but moved to 6966 Market on the East Side in July 2014 to make way for the highway project. It also sold its building to TXDOT.
The Rescue Mission had to be out of the Globe Mills building by February and must turn over its main building and other buildings bought by the agency by the end of August, Barrow said. The mission is building a new facility at 221 N. Lee in Central El Paso.
Blanca Del Valle, a TXDOT spokeswoman in El Paso, said in an email that the agency could not divulge the price it paid for the Rescue Mission properties because the "acquisition is ongoing." But Barrow said the deal is complete, and the Rescue Mission has until the end of August to turn over its main building and other buildings on the property. Del Valle also did not provide the sales price for the McKinney Wrecking property.
Barrow said he could not divulge the sales price for the mission properties, but the mission did not get enough money to pay for the full cost of building its new facility, he said.
"We are taking this opportunity to make the mission facility bigger and better," Barrow said. The new facility will have 190 beds compared to 130 beds at the current facility, he said.
Grossman said the El Paso flour mill was completed in 1909 and provided flour throughout Texas. It was the Globe Grain and Milling Co.'s first mill outside of California, according to information posted on the El Paso County Historical Commission's Facebook page. Pillsbury bought Globe Mills in the 1940s and the El Paso flour mill closed sometime in the 1960s or 1970s, according to the posting.
"We first lost Asarco, and now we're losing this. This whole area (between Paisano and I-10) was important in the early industrial history (of El Paso), and now the whole era is erased," Grossman said. "It's a shame from that standpoint."
No date has been set for the demolition of the Globe Mills building and the other El Paso Rescue Mission buildings, said Mandra Ryan, a spokeswoman for the Border West Expressway project, which is being built by the Abrams-Kiewit Joint Venture.
The contractor is holding a public informational open house about the project from 4-8 p.m., Jan. 28 at the Hilton Garden Hotel at 111 W. University on the UTEP campus.
More information: borderwestexpressway.com; facebook.com/El-Paso-County-Historical-Commission-204564212902428