Swany White owner won’t rebuild mill, but he might continue the flour brand [St. Cloud Times, Minn.]

Dec. 30--FREEPORT -- Swany White owner Gary Thelen won't rebuild the 114-year-old flour mill, but he's considering rebuilding the brand.

Central Minnesota's only flour mill in Freeport burned down Tuesday night, and is a complete loss, Thelen said.

The mill has been in the Thelen family since 1903, and recently produced 750,000 pounds of flour per year.

It's not economically feasible to rebuild the mill. The machinery dated back to 1897 or 1913, and nothing is salvageable.

But Thelen might relaunch the brand's specialty products, such as its pancake and organic bread mixes, flaxseed and oatmeal. It's too soon to make decisions, he said.

"I lost everything," Thelen said Thursday in his Freeport home. "I lay in bed and think this did not happen, and then you see it."

Thelen carried insurance on the mill, but he spent Thursday trying to determine his losses by recreating lost inventories and the material in the antique ledger he used for his accounting. He and his employee escaped the building unhurt, but grabbed nothing.

He planned to travel Thursday night to St. Cloud so he could replace his glasses and cellphone, which he lost in the fire.

Fire

Tuesday was a normal day at the mill. Thelen was packing flour at about 4:30 p.m., while his only employee cleaned the machines.

They smelled what they thought was wood burning. The two investigated, and saw smoke. They called emergency personnel and left the building.

Thelen doesn't know what started the fire, but thinks it started in machinery on the third floor.

He had checked the machinery two hours earlier, and everything was fine. He normally checked on equipment once or twice a day because of its age.

"I got the hell out," said Thelen, a former Freeport firefighter. "I stood outside and waited for the fire truck."

Not even a mile away, Thelen's mother, Lou Thelen, was making dinner for herself and Thelen's father, Walter "Pinky" Thelen.

Walter Thelen's father, Peter, and his uncle, Hubert, bought the mill in 1903. After the founders left the business, Walter Thelen ran the business until Gary Thelen took over the mill in 1998.

"Walt asked if I saw a cloud," Lou Thelen said. "We smelled it, and my heart sank. He said, 'Oh, this really hurts.' "

Six miles down the road, Peg Boeckermann, Gary Thelen's sister, saw the fire's smoke from her Freeport farm.

The family watched as the mill burned Tuesday.

"It was hard," Gary Thelen said. "I don't know what's worse, that day or seeing it the next day."

Roots

By Thursday, Gary Thelen's family sat in their Freeport living room. They don't cry easily. They speak matter-of-factly.

The mill's history is their family history.

Generations spent hours cleaning the mill, packaging flour and lifting bags. In fact, Gary Thelen's son, Greg, a sophomore at St. John's University, was scheduled to clean the mill's basement during winter break.

Back in the beginning, Hubert Thelen kept the mill so clean people could eat off the floor, Walter Thelen said. He spent hours sweeping as a young person. Many children and grandchildren have worked at the mill over time.

"I was born in the milling business," Walter Thelen said. "(Gary Thelen) was born in the milling business. We all were."

The work required employees to be "hand strong," Walter Thelen said. It was physically difficult work, but the family succeeded.

Flour

The family took pride in its product, and had a devoted following. It milled commercial and organic flours. It was the best around, they said.

Shortly after the fire, customers began leaving messages on Gary Thelen's telephone asking where they could find the product.

Its flour was finer than other brands. Greg Thelen even heard one woman describe it as "pretty."

"The women say it makes the best bread," Lou Thelen said.

Lou Thelen would make 10 loaves at a time when her children were young. She makes good bread, Walter Thelen said.

Support for the family has been overwhelming. People have dropped off food at Gary Thelen's house since the fire. One friend dropped off a huge ham.

"People have been wonderful," said Gary Thelen's wife, Sharon. "It's overwhelming."

Remembering

The family has only a few reminders of the mill -- flour bags and stickers, a PowerPoint presentation Greg Thelen made of the mill's history for a college course and newspaper articles.

Minneapolis' Mill City Museum explores Minnesota's flour milling history. The milling sounds visitors hear in the museum are from Swany White.

Part of the mill also lives on at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion, an annual four-day show in Rollag. A steam engine that was used in the mill is part of the show.

The family hopes the mill's history will live on in other ways, too. It just takes time.

"I think it's missed already," Gary Thelen said. "People are going to miss the white flour, and that's not an option. A big piece of history died."

___

(c)2011 the St. Cloud Times (St. Cloud, Minn.)

Visit the St. Cloud Times (St. Cloud, Minn.) at www.sctimes.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services