The Wauneta Roller Mills was established by the Maxfield family in 1925 and has been operated by the family since.

    By Tina Kitt
    The Wauneta Breeze
    
     Wauneta's beloved Roller Mills, an icon representing this small farming community for more than 80 years, has gained national recognition.
     Earlier this month the Wauneta Roller Mills was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
     The National Register of Historic Places is an inventory of properties deemed worthy of historic preservation. It is part of a national program to coordinate and support local and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect the nation's historic and archeological resources.
     Emma Jean Maris of Wauneta, whose parents Bert and Edna Maxfield established the mill in 1925, completed the paperwork for the historic designation last summer.
     A follow-up visit was made by two women representing the Nebraska State Historical Society as part of the process in attaining the national honor.
     The National Register was developed to recognize historic places and their role in contributing to our country's heritage.
     The Wauneta Roller Mills was officially entered on the National Register of Historic Places on March 12, 2008.
     The Maxfield family has operated the mill for nearly 83 years, with Raymond Maxfield, 89, overseeing mill operations daily with the help of his son, Jim, and Emma Jean, 82, running the office. Her husband, Merrill Maris, has been involved in the business and Raymond and Emma Jean's sister, Dorthy Dudek, 79, worked at the mill also until declining health forced her to retire.
     With the exception of Jim, none of the subsequent generations are interested in continuing the family trade of milling, including young Bert Maxfield of Oakley, Kans., who was named after his great-grandfather.
     Noting that Raymond, Emma Jean, Dorthy and Jim weren't getting any younger, last summer the family decided the time had come to sell the mill.
     They placed a full page advertisement in the "Old Mill News" magazine hoping to find a milling family that would prize the mill's historic value. They plan to discuss listing the property with a local realtor.
     "If we could turn back the clock there's no way we would consider selling, but we're just getting too old," said Emma Jean. "But it has been fun," she added, her eyes twinkling.
    
    Wauneta Roller Mills
     Originally from Canada, the late Bert Maxfield gained practical milling experience while working at milling operations in Nebraska and in South Dakota.
     In 1925, four years after Wauneta's water powered mill was destroyed by fire, Maxfield and his wife Edna constructed the modern Wauneta Roller Mills.
     The Maxfield mill was not water powered, but was instead powered by a diesel engine.
     When constructed, the mill produced primarily wheat flour, though grain for use as animal feed was also custom ground for area farmers.
     While establishing the mill business, the Maxfields also constructed domestic structures alongside the mill building, including a garage that served as a temporary home while the family home was planned and completed in 1929.
     In the 1930s, the mill was converted from diesel power to electrical power. By 1935, the first mechanical feed mixer was installed. Bert and Edna's son Raymond joined the operation around 1939. Daughters Emma Jean and Dorthy followed suit.
     In 1940, the mill began producing animal feeds in pellet form.
     During World War II, the Wauneta Roller Mills contracted with the U.S. military, proudly providing three railroad carloads of flour under each contract.
     Throughout the mid to late 1940s, local wheat growers produced crops that were low in protein, threatening the quality of Wauneta's Best Flour. Gone were the days in which the only testing done on batches of flour was Edna's baking - reliance on outside labs in the Midwest equaled delays in flour milling.
     Raymond made inquiries until he found a university that would agree to teach him how to use equipment to test protein levels on site.
     Raymond and his family traveled to the University of Lincoln's Agricultural campus in 1947 so that he could learn procedures for protein testing. While Raymond learned all he needed during just a few days, it took nearly two years for them to acquire the necessary testing equipment.
     After re-teaching himself protein testing techniques, the Wauneta Roller Mills has been testing all wheat on site, saving valuable time while ensuring the quality of Wauneta's Best Flour.
     The Wauneta Roller Mills was the third mill operated in Wauneta, a community platted in 1887.
     While not the earliest mill in the community, the Wauneta Roller Mills continued to play the important role of the mill in the local agricultural economy. The Wauneta Roller Mills provided area grain producers with a local outlet for their grain. Most of the wheat used in the flour is grown within a 100-mile radius of Wauneta.
     In the earliest days of the establishment, producers could choose to sell their grain outright, or could choose to have their grain milled into flour for their own use. Producers who took their grain to the Wauneta Roller Mills for sale then had a ready opportunity to purchase other goods available in the community.
     Flour and grain milling played an important economic role throughout Nebraska's history.
     The first mills in Nebraska were grist mills established in the eastern portion of the state, coinciding with the earliest population centers in the state.
     At the turn of the century, the number of flour mills in Nebraska peaked, with a total of 260 mills in operation. The turn of the century also brought significant change to the milling industry as small mills closed and operating mills consolidated.
     By 1925 when Bert Maxfield established the Wauneta Roller Mills, the number of mills in the state had decreased to 110.
     According to a recent article in the Lincoln Journal Star, the Maxfield mill is the last family operated flour mill in Nebraska.
     The decline of the small mill in Nebraska has been attributed to three factors: 1) market demand for uniform flour; 2) large scale production and purchasing capabilities of large mills; 3) excessive costs of updating equipment.
     The Wauneta Roller Mills business model went against each of these factors. Most of the wheat used at the Wauneta Roller Mills was grown within a 100-mile radius of Wauneta.
     Onsite management and testing insured a product that was both consistent and of high quality.
     The Maxfield family did not move toward large scale production. Rather, they continually produced excellent products while providing individualized service.
     Bert Maxfield's choice to diversify his operation to include processing grain for animal feed was an industry-wide trend in Nebraska and helped to insure that the Wauneta Roller Mills remained in operation.
     Cashway and Thompsons are their primary bulk distributors. Wauneta's Best Flour and other products are still packaged in the mill's trademark cloth flour sacks and sold across the area at grocery stores like Walgren's Super Market and used by area bakeries like Sehnert's in McCook.
     The Maxfield family did not choose to invest in costly new equipment. Rather, in the tried and true method of resourceful Nebraskans, they have continued to repair original equipment.
     These factors, taken together with a strong family work ethic, secured the economic viability and the economic importance of the Wauneta Roller Mills.
     Throughout its history, the Wauneta Roller Mills has played a significant role in the agricultural industry and the economy of the local area.