Marion Flour Mill 1904
As late as the post-World War I period the tall, black elevator building provided storage for grain bought from local farmers and held for rail shipment or for manufacture into flour on the spot.
In those years the establishment was owned and operated by the late C.C. Bracy, a brother of the late Harry W. Bracy. Flour manufactured under the Bracy name was made in the mill occupying part of the building which was expanded eastward by construction of brick additions. In the later years of its operation the Bracy mill complex was marked by a tall concrete smokestack which stood at the east end until torn down many years ago.
After the manufacture of flour was discontinued the building continued to be used as a grain buying station and distribution point for flour which was milled elsewhere and shipped here for marketing under the Bracy name in the area where it long remained a familiar trademark.
Long after Mr. Bracy’s death the building became headquarters for the Courtney Moving & Storage Co., which had been organized by the late W.T. Courtney in 1919 and continued under the management of his son, Robert, and his son-in-law, Gilbert Smart, through its 50th anniversary.
(Glances at Life by Homer Butler, date unknown, suspect early to mid 1970’s)
Sam’s Notes: The original mill at this location was built by William Aikman before his death in 1890. The 1906 City Directory lists this mill at 513-515 N. Market Street as Marion Mill and Elevator Company. The Bracy’s apparently held ownership during WWI according to Homer Butler. City Directories list the site as the Bracy Supply Company and indicate that this ownership ended in 1927 after which it was owned by two separate Creamery Companies until Courtney’s Moving occupied the location in the 1940’s and remained until the 1970’s.