Howson and Howson marks 150th anniversary as an agricultural leader

1872
William James Howson agreed to become an apprentice to learn the milling trade in Norval, Ontario for a salary of $100 per year. He would pay $2 per week in board. Provided he didn’t indulge in any form of entertainment or purchase clothing during the year, he would have a net loss of $4 for the year.
In 1872 the minimum hourly work week was totally unheard of. William learned his trade working each day from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and then again from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m.
Life in the flour mill at Norval offered little opportunity to William Howson. When his apprenticeship was served, he decided to stay in the business, but as owner of his own mill.

 

1875
William James Howson and his twin brother Archibald McKinnon Howson founded Howson & Howson, renting their first flour mill in Aberfoyle, Ontario.
After a short time, Howson & Howson moved to Teeswater, where they rented and operated another flour mill. 

 

1882
Howson & Howson built a new roller mill in Teeswater, one of the first roller mills in the area.

 

1899
Howson & Howson sold the Teeswater mill and Archibald and William went their separate ways.
Archibald bought a flour mill in Arthur and William purchased a flour and feed mill in Wingham. This mill was operated by water power and when the water in the race held up, it could produce approximately 200 bags (CWT) of flour in a 24-hour period. 
To reach peak production, William and his three helpers often worked around the clock in shifts.

 

1917
William’s son Frank Howson became a worker and a partner in the mill. Frank helped to develop the business during the change from horse-drawn wagons to delivery trucks.
When reminiscing of his first years in the milling business, Frank recalled many bone-numbing winter rides on a sleigh loaded with flour for bakeries and grocery stores.
On flour deliveries, he would also stop at farms to pick up grain to be processed into feed at the mill.

 

1924
The invention of the horseless carriage, and later the development of heavier load-carrying vehicles, presented the opportunity to offer customers even greater service.
It was then that Howson & Howson purchased their first truck, the Ford Model T truck, which had a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour. This extended the distance and speed of delivery and pickup which was a major source of increased business.

 

1931
Howson & Howson became a franchised Purina outlet. Howson & Howson were doing business within a 35-mile radius of Wingham.
Flour was also sold to Montreal markets and exported to Britain and other U.K. countries.
The depression years affected the industry, as it did all others, but business continued to slowly increase.

 

1932
William James Howson passed away in 1932.

 

1943
William Frederick Howson (Fred), Frank’s son, joined the business.
Toward the end of the Second World War, farming in the area began to greatly increase. Frank and Fred took the appropriate steps of improving the mill’s feed services.

 

1947
March 1, 1947, the Blyth feed and flour mill was purchased from Irvine Wallace. The building had only one electric light bulb and the feed mill was operating with three employees and one truck. The flour mill had not operated since 1934.
In May of 1947, work started to prepare the flour mill; taking out some of the old machinery and replacing it with new or reconditioned machinery.
The feed mill facilities were greatly improved, and the flour mill production potential was tripled.

 

1948
In July of 1948, the Blyth flour mill commenced operation, producing 300 bags (CWT) of flour per day.
A new office and warehouse space were added and, after these additions, the number of Blyth mill employees increased from six to 12.

 

1949
Needing to continue the growth of feed production, Howson’s purchased a third mill in Cargill.

 

1950
On June 22, 1950, lightning struck the Wingham mill, and the resulting fire leveled the building to the ground.
Instead of building a new mill in Wingham, Howson’s expanded its production at Blyth and Cargill and increased the overall capacity of the mills, while opening a new feed store in Wingham.
In September of 1950, the Blyth mill added five grain silos and a warehouse on the west side of the mill.

 

1951
The Blyth feed mill was renovated, increasing its capacity at a time when Howson’s employed 13 people and operated two trucks.

 

1952
The Blyth flour mill capacity was increased to 500 bags (CWT) per day.

 

1955
The Blyth flour mill capacity was increased to 700 bags (CWT) per day and employed 15 people.

 

1957
The Blyth flour mill installed bulk storage, bulk handling and shipping equipment. The capacity was increased to 800 bags (CWT) per day.
A 50-foot platform scale was added for weighing bulk materials shipped and received and an agreement was reached with Campbell Transport for the transportation of bulk flour.

 

1960
James “Jim” Richard Howson, Fred’s son, joined the business.
Feed mill bulk handling equipment was installed.

 

1962
The flour mill production was increased to 1,000 bags (CWT) per day and Howson’s employed 18 people at the time.
The handling of all stock in the flour mill was changed from buckets and belt elevation to a pneumatic system.

 

1964
William “Bill” Frederick Howson and Douglas “Doug” Ross Howson, Fred’s sons, joined the business.

 

1965
The flour mill capacity was raised to 1,100 bags (CWT) per day, 20 people were employed at the time and six metal silos for grain storage were added for grain storage.

 

1967
As part of a centennial project, Howson’s greatly expanded its main mill at Blyth and built a new warehouse to handle C.I.L. fertilizer, bulk and bag. The official opening of the new feed mill  was on May 31, 1967. 
The plate grinder that was used to produce feed was replaced by a hammermill. This gave customers a faster job with a more uniform grind with a capacity of one-and-a-half tons per hour.
The combination of grinding capacity and increased bin capacity almost tripled the mixing output of the feed mill with 10 outside bulk bins with a capacity of nine tons each.
Howson’s added equipment that could unload feed or grain, in any form, from any type of vehicle quickly and a new front office and showroom was added.
At this time, Howson & Howson employed approximately 25 people and had seven trucks (three nine-ton, two 15-ton and two 20-ton). Flour production was 1,100 bags (CWT) per day and feed production was 30 tons per day (maximum capacity of 60 tons per day).

 

1971
The decision was made to convert the flour mill from a hard-wheat flour mill to a durum semolina mill. Howson & Howson entered a single supplier contract with General Mills Ltd., for its pasta manufacturing subsidiary: Lancia Bravo Foods. 
The customer base subsequently expanded to include sales to larger companies, as well as export to Mexico, the Caribbean and South America.

 

1974
Bruce Robert Howson, Fred’s youngest son, joined the company.

 

1975
A new bulk storage building for semolina and flour was built.

 

1977
A grain elevator and dryer was built on the outskirts of Blyth.  Four concrete silos and one dryer were erected.
From this location, Howson’s began to purchase locally-grown crops from area farmers.

 

1978
An increase in cash crops being grown in the area led to the construction of two more concrete silos at the grain elevator.

 

1980
Steven “Steve” James Howson, Jim’s son, joined the business.
The grain elevator installed (twinned) a second grain dryer with the existing dryer at the grain elevator due to the increase in corn being grown in the area.

 

1982
The feed mill changed from a Purina dealership to Masterfeeds.

 

1983
The elevator needed more storage, so a new style of grain storage, known as the “Big Boy”, was constructed. The Big Boy storage capacity was greater than that of the existing six upright silos.

 

1985
On June 3, 1985, Howson & Howson commenced leasing a Masterfeeds dealership from Maple Leaf Mills in Owen Sound.

 

1986
An extension on the office and wheat-receiving buildings was completed at the flour mill.

 

1988
There was an increasing demand for roasted soybeans at the grain elevator, so a gem roaster was installed.

 

1991
On June 22, 1991, the lease for the Owen Sound location was transferred to Bayshore Country Feeds.

 

1993/1994
The feed mill and agricultural services were moved to the grain elevator site.

 

1995
A fertilizer tower was built to better service farm customers’ specific blends in a timely manner.
Jeffery “Jeff” Douglas Howson, Doug’s son, joined the business.

 

1996
The flour mill underwent a major upgrade, adopting the PeriTec TM process and installed two debranners. This process was a drastic change to the procedure used for milling durum wheat. Howson & Howson was the first mill in North America, and only the second mill worldwide, to use this technology.
Flour mill production was 10 metric tonnes per hour (220 CWT bags, 5,280 CWT bags per day).
William Frederick “Rick” Howson, Bill’s son, joined the business.
On Dec. 31, 1996, the Cargill location was closed.

 

1997
Howson added a third debranner to the system and increased production to 15 metric tonnes per hour (330 CWT bags, 7,980 CWT bags per day)   
Christopher “Chris” Bruce Howson, Bruce’s son, joined the business.
On Dec. 31, 1997, the Wingham store was closed.

 

1998
Howson Transportation (HTI) was established. HTI provided transportation services to the Blyth flour mill for the majority of products received and shipped. This allowed Howson to better control sanitation and cleanliness of the transportation of its product. 

 

2002
The flour mill constructed a third bulk storage building.

 

2004
Additional office space was added to the west end of the current office.

 

2006
To meet the needs of its customers, the flour mill installed a new bulk loading and blending system in its newest bulk storage building.
 

2008
Howson’s founded a dry grain transportation business called agriEXCEL, which is now responsible for inbound transportation of durum wheat to the flour mill. 

 

2009
A new scale house and automatic probing station was added at the grain elevator. Howson’s employed 53 people at the time.
A new high-speed and dust-free wheat receiving pit was installed in the flour mill.

 

2011
The flour mill installed a new “state-of-the-art” cleaning house, including a colour sorter. Howson employed 65 people at the time.
Flour mill production was 20 metric tonnes per hour (440 CWT bags, 10,560 CWT bags per day).

 

2013

The flour mill initiated a seven-year replacement and expansion plan (2013 - 2019) that aimed to modernize equipment and create expansion capability.

 

2014
Howson & Howson joined with Parrish & Heimbecker to create a new agricultural company: Millstone Crop Services. The Howson agricultural division merged with P&H’s Walton location to form this company.

 

2021
To increase bulk loading efficiency and improve employee safety while loading trucks, the flour mill built a new loadout building with two loading drop bins.

 

2022
Morgan Diane Howson, Jeff’s daughter; Colin Jeffrey Howson, Jeff’s son, and Brenden Steven Walter Howson, Steve’s son all joined the team at Millstone Crop Services.

 

2024
After seeing the benefits of the flour mill’s new loadout building, a third drop bin was added.
Colin Jeffrey Howson, Jeff’s son, joined the flour mill and Joel Douglas Howson, Jeff’s son, joined the team at Millstone Crop Services.
Howson’s employed 48 people, which does not include those employed through Millstone.