| 1882 | Gustav Krug migrated from Saxony, Germany and settled on a farm north of Hudson, Kansas. His father, Karl, was in the milling business in Germany | |
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1904 | Gustav’s interest in milling outweighed his love of farming. He built a house in the town of Hudson and with his brother-in-law Otto Sondregger organized the “Hudson Milling Company” |
| 1905 | Production began at the newly built mill. Capacity was 75 barrels per day | |
| 1906 | Gustav’s sons, Richard (born in Germany) and William (born in a dugout north of Hudson), join the company as mill hands | |
| 1909 | Financial problems forced the brothers-in-law to reorganize with a group of investors as the “Stafford County Flour Mills Company” | |
| 1913 | Original wooden mill burned to ground. Krug borrowed $50,000 in funds to build a new mill and erect the first four concrete storage tanks. Krug repaid investors before his death seven years later. | |
| 1914 | Milling began at the new mill. Capacity was 300 barrels per day. At the time, it was one of the most modern flour mills in Kansas. This is the mill that continues to be in operation today. | |
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1920 | Founder Gustav Krug passes away and son, William, becomes second president of Stafford County Flour Mills |
| 1922 | “Never underestimate the influence of a good lady” Leila English Reid, who was born and raised in Stafford County, moved to West Virginia and was not satisfied with any of the flour she found on the shelves there. She convinced her local grocer accept one train car shipment of Hudson Cream Flour, and, as they say, the rest is history. Today, a majority of Hudson Cream Flour is sold in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. | |
| 1937 | Alvin Brensing, president of Stafford County Flour Mill from 1986 to present, began work at SCFM as a bookkeeper | |
| WWII | Prior to World War II, most flour was sold in 25 and 50 pound cloth bags. During the war, sugar was rationed and many women began buying bread already baked so they could use their limited sugar in other recipes. This had a lasting impact, as women became accustomed to not baking bread, even after the sugar rations were lifted. It was following WWII that flour began to be packaged in smaller bags (at first, they were cloth bags in 5 and 10 pound quantities), and a growing portion of flour was sold to commercial bakeries. | |
| Early 1950s |
Growing methods for agricultural crops improved rapidly throughout the 1950s, including the introduction of better fertilizers. In the early part of the decade, Stafford County Flour Mills began selling dry fertilizer as a service to farmers to assist them in growing better crops. Selling fertilizer is now a major part of our business. | |
| 1950s | Self-Rising flour was developed at the request of consumers in the Appalachia region. It is now by far our best selling Hudson Cream flour variety. | |
| 1954 | Storage capacity is added for 750,000 bushels of grain | |
| Early 1960s |
Paper bags began to be used for packaging flour rather than cloth. | |
| 1964 | Remodeling and expansion project was completed that included automating the mill, electrifying the plant and increasing milling capacity to 1,000 hundredweights per day. | |
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1972 | Leonard Brim named third President of Stafford County Flour Mills Co. |
| 1984 | Packaging plant was built, which included bulk flour storage along with automated packaging equipment | |
| 1985 | While the general trend for flour packaging over the years has been to make bags with smaller quantities, it was not until the mid-1980s that our 140 pound bag of flour was discontinued. Most of these huge bags were sold for export. | |
| 1986 | The Krug family, ready to retire and without a family member of the next generation to take over, was looking to sell Stafford County Flour Mills. Several members of the community were concerned that selling to a large company would mean a loss of jobs, and perhaps the entire mill would eventually be shut down. A holding company was formed to pool the resources of many members of the community, and the holding company purchased controlling interest of the mill from the Krug family, keeping Stafford County Flour Mills a locally owned company. | |
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1986 | Alvin Brensing named fourth President of Stafford County Flour Mill |
| 1990 | Hudson Cream Self-Rising White Corn Meal Mix introduced, again largely at the urging of consumers from the Appalachia region. | |
| 1991 | Purchased English Grain Company in neighboring town of Macksville, KS | |
| 1992 | Hudson Cream Whole Wheat flour is introduced, taking advantage of the new hard white wheat varieties being grown in the area. The white wheat offers the nutritional benefits of whole wheat but is naturally sweeter in flavor than traditional red wheat varieties. | |
| 1992 | Mill was remodeled and expanded, including installation of new cleaning equipment. Milling capacity was increased to 2,400 cwt per day. | |
| 1999 | New packing equipment installed along with increased wheat and bulk flour storage | |
| 2000 | Bread Flour, which has added gluten to improve dough strength, is added to the Hudson Cream product offering. | |
| 2000 | Tornado destroys Stafford County Flour Mills Co. office. | |
| 2001 | New office built and dedicated | |
