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| LC-D4-500408, motivated by Wayne Mahowald's post The North Star in front of Henkel Bread and Flour on the Cuyahoga River, Cleveland circa 1910. Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted The freighter North Star at Henkel’s Elevator in Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1900-1920 (Image Source: Library of Congress – Detroit Publishing Co. Collection – Enhanced by Shorpy.com). The notes for the image do not include the name of the photographer. It was created from a dry plate negative. [The description continues with a history of the freighter.] David Kozinski: That grain elevator still stands and is currently still for sale. |
Henkel was headquartered in Detroit, MI, where they had plants that made flour and bread. [DetroitHistorical] It was last owned by Grain Craft. A comment on Wayne's post indicates this plant was shutdown in 2020. This image shows that the marine unloading building is still standing because we can still see the letters "NKE" of Hinkel.
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| Street View taken from the Center Street Bridge |
Another post, another corporate name.
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| Bill Kloss posted Kinsman's Harry L. Allen at Montana Mills in Cleveland. An undated Chuck Drumm photo. |
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| Fred Bultman posted A lovely image of classic steam in Cleveland, tug Virginia takes Paterson's Soodoc up the river past Montana Mills in the late 1950s. Taken from the site of the old Erie car dumper. From the MHSD Collections. Association for Great Lakes Maritime History shared [The description provides the history of the freighter.] |
Three additional photos of the plant were provided by comments on Wayne's post.
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| 1, Nicki Cook |
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| 2, Wayne Mahowald, taken during 1989 when it was Cereal Food Processors |
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| 3, While studying the Center Street Bridge, I came across this view from the Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection via Bridge Hunter. |
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| Thomas Wentzel posted Cleveland, Ohio. Detroit-Superior Bridge shot from old Superior Viaduct, circa 1920. [The flour mill has a different name in this photo.] |
It receives wheat from trucks and rail hopper cars. The flour is shipped in special 18-wheeler trailers.
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| Satellite |
A 1939 cookbook that Hinkel used for advertising.
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| MyReadingVintage |
They also had custom mailing envelopes in 1910.
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| PicClick |
Since it is now closed, I took more street views than normal because who knows when it is going to disappear.
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| Street View, Sep 2019 The bridge in the background is the Detroit Avenue Bridge. |
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| Street View Note the yellow of a trackmobile peaking out on the left, a truck leaving a building and the Chicago & North Western logo fading on the hopper car. |
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| Street View |
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| Street View |
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| Street View Unfortunately, the sun is at a bad angle for views of the north side. Note the truck leaving with flour has made some progress. The truck on the right is probably unloading wheat. |
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| Street View These are a few of the 3-bay covered hoppers I saw around the plant. So they receive wheat via trucks and rail and ship flour with trucks. Obviously, the marine unloader is no longer used even though ships still sail upstream past this plant. |
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| Street View Some of the trailers used to ship the flour were parked on the south side of the plant. |
Ken Stroebel posted seven photos with the comment: "Cleveland, OH was once home to grain milling and distribution operations located along the Cuyahoga River. The last grain mill on the Cuyahoga River, which was owned and operated by Grain Craft, closed in July 2020. The location had proximity to railroads and the Great Lakes. The original mill facility began operating sometime in the 1870s. You can still evidence of mill owners along the walls of the building, which included Henkel’s Bread & Flour, Sapphire from the Montana Flour Mills years, and then Robin Hood during the International Multifoods period. The concrete grain elevators were built in 1937. Cereal Food Processors, Inc. (CFP) was bought in 2014 by Milner Milling and Pendleton Flour Mills and renamed Grain Craft. Unfortunately, operations finally ceased and the property was sold to Cleveland Metroparks, who has stated that the structures will be demolished at some point in the future. These photos were taken shortly after the mill closed."
Wesley Peters: I believe this is the last large wooden terminal elevator left in a major American city.
Jack Daw: I found a recent article by a fellow which includes more history and photos of the site:
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| 1 [The bridge in the background is the Detroit-Superior Bridge.] |
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| mrpexplores "The mill ceased operations in mid-2020 due to challenging market dynamics and the loss of rail service provided by the Flats Industrial Railroad, which had been a vital transportation link for the facility." Metroparks keeps a ranger on site. They plan to tear down the buildings and silos because of the risk of a lawsuit by an illegal trespasser who hurts himself. [I wish trespassers would end up in jail rather than with a large settlement award for being stupid.] [The webpage has several more photos, but I did not see one of the wood elevator.] |
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| Facebook Reel |
Dec 2025:
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| NEOtrans Cleveland posted Hotel planned for historic grain mill in Flats More historic tax credits sought for rehab "As seen from a passing ship, the former Cereal Food Processors/Grain Craft mill sets between the Cuyahoga River and Merwin Avenue. The brick building is called the Main Mill while the wooden portion at right is called Elevator A. Behind are the larger concrete silos, called Elevator C. All will be retrofitted with hotel rooms and ground-floor hotel uses including a restaurant. The metal garage at left will be demolished (NEOtrans)." |
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