Sprehe & Depweg started their flour mill in 1854. Both C. D. Depweg and Francis Sprehe lived in Minster, and their homes are depicted in this etching. The mill, renamed the Minster Milling Company, burned in 1912.
Courtesy of the 1880 Atlas of Auglaize County, Ohio, by H.G. Howland
Smoke billowed from the Minster Milling Company in the early morning hours of Sunday, August 4, 1912. In two hours the mill would be known not only for its flour, but also for being the victim of one of the largest fires in Minster’s history.
Mrs. Al Beckman, one of the first Minster residents to notice, smelled smoke and woke her husband around 1:30 a.m. Around this time, other people took notice of the danger. An elderly man named August Hegeman attempted and failed to ring the fire bell. A few minutes later Joseph Schmuecker and Ben Hegeman arrived and together successfully sounded the first fire bell. Charles Piening then rushed to ring the Cataract Fire Co.’s bell, having to scale the tower after discovering the rope was broken. Church bells tolled. Shouts of “Fire!” filled the streets, including those from Harry “Happy” Vanderhorst who ensured citizens woke to assist.
Minster’s firefighters and citizens quickly answered the calls. Mill manager Benjamin Schmiesing too fought the fire, working tirelessly to save his company. Teams of horses belonging to Barney Danzing and Harry Wendeln pulled a hand-pumper and another wagon to the scene. At the time Minster had around 100 volunteer firemen and two fire stations located on the corner of Fourth and Hannover Streets and on Main Street. The available equipment included two hand pumpers and three hose reel carts with rubber-lined hoses.
New Bremen and Fort Loramie fire departments joined in the firefighting efforts with their fire apparatuses. Ft. Loramine brought a gasoline-power engine that had a stronger water stream than the hand-pumpers. One department also brought a wagon with ladders.
Despite arriving seven minutes after the fire was discovered, firemen ultimately determined the mill could not be saved and then worked to prevent the fire’s spread to nearby structures. The fire burned so hot, that those manning the water hoses had to take shelter behind a small building between the mill and the neighboring Laufersweiler building, whose walls “glowed like an oven.” That building’s owner, Joseph Laufersweiler, hurried inside his building to cover its windows with sheet metal. H. Kuhlman and Frank Schmuecker, owners of other neighboring buildings wet their roofs to protect their buildings from falling embers.
By 3:30 a.m. the fire was brought under control. The combined efforts of the firemen and citizens stopped the fire from spreading to most of the neighboring buildings. Firefighters were stationed at the mill for several nights to ensure that no fire would break out again. The ruins of the mill smoldered for at least four days.
Minster’s access to water helped make the firefighting successful. An article in the Dayton Daily News stated that Minster’s new waterworks plant helped prevent greater loss. The water facilities installed in 1910 had a 300,000 gallon reservoir with more pipes and hydrants added in 1912. Prior to that Minster relied on cisterns that the city had begun building in 1882 to fight fires. Placed near street intersections, each cistern could hold up to 45,000 gallons of water. Minster had 28 cisterns and the canal to fight fires in 1907.
The fire destroyed the Minster Milling Company’s wood-frame structures, including the mill, warehouse, and their contents. The mill’s recently updated machines and equipment, 600 bushels of wheat and around 70 barrels of flour were lost. Only two or three horses and a company truck survived the blaze. Accounts of the fire’s financial loss reached up to $25,000 to $40,000. Insurance only covered $9,000. Four businesses and several residences, including the Beckmans’, also suffered fire and smoke damage.
Despite this tragedy, the Minster Milling Company continued to supply the community with flour from their temporary location in Mary Goeke’s store on Fourth Street.
The mill had been a staple in that city for nearly 60 years at the time of the fire. Francis Sprehe and C. D. Depweg founded the Sprehe & Depweg Mill in 1854, becoming the third grist mill in Minster. Herman Suhrman opened the village’s first grist mill in 1838 one and a half miles south of the village. The two-story block building housed that horse-powered mill. H. H. Vocke built the next mill on the corner of Fourth and Freytag Streets in 1846. In November of that year Minster’s Village Council permitted John H. Steinemann and Francis Sprehe to construct a mill race from the Loramie Reservoir to the canal for a grist mill.
John D. Rush built Sprehe and Depweg’s hydraulic mill on Frankfort Street, south of Fourth Street. The race from the Loramie Reservoir powered the mill, but soon did not supply enough power. The company installed a steam engine, and the cost to run the mill increased. Operating for almost three decades, Sprehe & Depweg Mill was widely known for its quality flour and grew to be one of the largest flour mills in western Ohio.
Shock resounded through the community when the grain dealers announced the failure of their business on April 16, 1883. The news spread across western Ohio newspapers. The owners promised that if given time the $20,000 in liabilities would be paid to creditors. On May 3 the following year, the $7,000 mill went up for sale.
Herman B. Rulmann bought the mill from Depweg and Sprehe. Rulmann moved to Minster in the late 1880s after his son began practicing medicine there. He trained as a miller in Germany before immigrating to the United States. Prior to his arrival in Minster, Rulmann was a miller in Franklin County, Indiana. In 1885 the mill added a series of iron rollers for a “roller process,” which would increase the mill’s capacity to grind flour to 150 barrels per day.
On May 6, 1889 Minster’s grist mill became the Rulmann Milling Company, incorporated with a $10,000 stock. Herman Rulmann acted as general manager. His son, Dr. Rudolph A. Rulmann, served as secretary and treasurer. As with the mill’s previous owners, the company produced flour and welcomed custom work.
A few years later Henry Bensman bought Rulmann’s interest, and he partnered with B. H. “Barney” Meiners by 1891. Two new owners, John H. Meyer and Benjamin Schmiesing, joined by 1909. Under the new leadership, a gasoline engine powered the mill, and the company’s millers Joseph Rayner and Herman Oldiges used the company’s “Anchor” brand exclusively. In 1911 the company was reincorporated with a $15,000 capital as the Minster Milling Company by Benjamin F. Schmiesing, John H. Meyer, Jr., Charles F. Myers, A. W. Herkenhoff and Louis Heckman, all of Minster. Schmiesing, a former Shelby County teacher, became manager and secretary-treasurer. Herkenhoff served as president.
After the devastating 1912 fire, the company reorganized. The mill was rebuilt on Fourth Street between Main and Zwitzer Streets. This time, the buildings were made of brick. Miller Herman Oldiges continued to work at Minster Milling Company and retired after 20 years in that position and 33 years at the mill.
Minster Milling Company invested in feed grinders in 1928. By 1930 under Edward Sudhoff’s ownership and management, the mill stopped producing flour and solely produced feed. Sudhoff sold the mill to John Siegel and Anton Ernst of Ft. Loramie Mills in May 1946.
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SOURCE
This feature is a cooperative effort between the newspaper and the Auglaize County Museum and Historical Society.
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