William Aikman built and ran the steam roller mills, known then as the Marion Roller Mills. The mill was a large three-story brick building, which was erected in 1883 and was located at 513-515 N. Market Street next to the Illinois Central Railroad tracks directly across Market from the IC depot.

The building and the ground on which it stands cost Aikman about $5,000, and the mill machinery $12,000. The capacity of this mill was 125 barrels of flour per day.

The early steam powered mill served to grind grain into flour and, later when the elevator was built, served to provide storage for grain bought from local farmers and held for rail shipment or for manufacture into flour on the spot.

In 1899, the flouring mills and elevator were operated by W.W. Whittington as a private enterprise for five years before it was incorporated in 1904. The new management took possession March 4^th, 1904 and the name was changed to the Marion Flouring Mill and Elevator Company.  

The mill then ran six double stand of rolls with a daily capacity of 100 barrels. Their output was entirely disposed of in Southern Illinois with the exception of shipments to Paducah, Kentucky.

The elevator had a capacity of 45,000 barrels, and was operated by T. J. Erwin for eleven years. The following gentlemen ran the business: W. W. Whittington, President; S. W. Swain, Vice President, Secretary and General Manager; Directors—C.C. Whittington, D. C. Brien and W. H. Rix.

Prior to World War I, the elevator and mill were purchased by C.C. Bracy and became part of the Bracy Supply Company. See Bracy Flour Mill for more details.

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(Data from 1905 Souvenir History, WCHS; Goodspeed’s History, 1895; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 04/18/2013)