The H.H. King Flour Mills Co. was an outgrowth of a long-standing flour milling business in Faribault, that made the city one of Minnesota’s most important outstate flour milling centers for years. The company’s principal mill was located at the west edge of Faribault on a site first used by pioneer millers along side the Cannon River. The first mill on the site was erected in 1862 by Alexander Faribault and Henry Melhorn who soon sold it to the firm of Sater and Bangs. On 16 March 1870, S. Bean bought out Sater’s half interest in the mill and the firm became Bean, Bangs & Co., again changing ownership in 1873 when it became the Bean Bros. Mill and in 1874 when the ownership was turned over to Bean Bros. & Tennant. On 9 December 1876, the flour mill burned with the damages estimated at $25,000.

Under the name of Polar Star Milling Co., incorporated in February 1877 by F.A. Bean, William Tennant, T.B. Clement, L.R. Weld, G.W. Lewis, D.W. Humphrey, Miles Hollister, R.A. Mott, G.G. Gunhus, A.P. Story, and H.W. Bingham, a new mill was erected and began ruing 6 June 1877. It was a three-story brick building with a stone basement, sixty by sixty-two feet, using both water and steam power. In 1878, the company leased the mill to Bean & Tennant, who in 1881 added a rolling mill to the complex. In August 1883, Tennant sold all his stock and interest in the Polar Star Milling Co. to S.L. Bean and all the business of the former firm of Bean and Tennant was assumed by the new firm of F.A. & S.L. Bean. During the 1890s, the company experienced reverses and the firm lost the business, the property, and the credit, and also went $100,000 in debt. In March 1892, the Polar Star Mill property was sold to R.G. Weatherston and W.H. Cheney.

M.B. Sheffield secured the option on the Polar Star Mill property in November 1895 and proceeded to construct a one thousand barrel mill, a one hundred thousand bushel elevator, a brick office building, and a packing house. In May of that year, Polar Star Mills began operating under Sheffield’s ownership, with the name being changed to Sheffield Milling Co., incorporated by M.B. Sheffield, B.B. Sheffield, A. Blodgett Jr., D.W. Grant, and E.R. Thatcher. In 1898, an elevator was moved to the site.

In 1899, M.B. Sheffield died and control of the company passed to his son B.B. Sheffield. The same year a colony emerged around the mill site with a hotel, store, and houses. A cooper shop was added to the complex in 1901.

On 21 May 1902, B.B. Sheffield sold half interest in the mill to H.H. King of Minneapolis. Sheffield remained president of the company but the main offices were moved to Minneapolis. At the time, the mill employed over one hundred men and had a capacity of 2,800 barrels a day. Effective 1 July of that year, the company was incorporated as the Sheffield-King Milling Co. with Sheffield as president and King as vice-president. At the same time, the partners organized the Central Minnesota Elevator Co. for the purpose of buying, storing, and selling grain in Minneapolis and other unspecified places.

On 7 February 1906, Sheffield sold his remaining half interest to King. However, the business continued under the name of Sheffield-King Milling Co. until 1923 when it changed to H.H. King Flour Mills Co. During much of the 1920s and 1930s, the mill operated jointly by Arthur W. Quiggle and L. George Truesdale Jr. (son-in-law of H.H. King). In 1941, Quiggle bought out his partner’s share and ran the mill until it closed in 1956. From 1956 through 1969, Quiggle used the mill for government contract grain storage and also produced and sold a flour additive. In 1969, he sold the mill to Elwood Gilbertson and George R. Johnson.

The mill, warehouse, office building, and three garages burned to the ground on 19 June 1975.

Information obtained from: History of Rice County. . . . Minneapolis: Minnesota Historical Co., 1882, pp. 333-34; Central Republican (Faribault), 16 March 1870; various issues of the Faribault Republican, 1873-1911; The Northwestern Miller, 21 May 1902, 7 February 1906, and 13 June 1923; St. Paul Pioneer-Press, 9 September 1934; Minneapolis Tribune, 30 January 1948; Faribault Daily News, 20 June 1975; Mankato Free Press, 20 June 1975; and from the collection.