Our History


The old building that still stands on the corner of Main and Tecumseh dates back to 1881. It was first called the "Excelsior Mill". At some point in the late 1880's, the mill was converted from the stone-ground process to a roller mill. Sometime before 1918, the old mill was called Ottawa Milling Company and was controlled by a flour mill in Kansas City. 


1922


Flood of 1951

 In September 1919, the old mill was purchased by members of the Ross family. The mill in Ottawa was then called the Ross Milling Company. Production of flour was raised to 1200 one hundred pound sacks per day and shortly thereafter a new 120,000 bushel concrete grain elevator was built. The Ross Milling Company was operated for thirty-one years, but after several floods in the 1940's it was dismantled and sold in 1950 to the Ottawa Cooperative Association.
 

In the late 1940's local area farmers felt the need to better control their grain markets.   When the historical Ross Mill in the center of town became available, the Ottawa Cooperative Association was on it's way. Their charter was received on February 9, 1950 and the opened for business on June 1, 1950 with 425 members. Just one short year later the flood of 1951 brought disaster. Most farmers despaired, but the members rallied and, with the help of employees, several months later the business reopened.  


1994
Departments at the co-op include grain handling and storage, feed mixing, seed cleaning, delivery and bagged sales, veterinary supplies, petroleum products and delivery, chemical and fertilizer sales and application, car care facilities, and office management. 
 

 

 

In 2001 the Ottawa Cooperative Association purchased several locations from the Farmers Cooperative Association formerly located in Lawrence, KS.  This expansion tripled the capacity of the Ottawa Cooperative Association, yielding a total of 14 locations.

 

 

2006

  
 

 

 

From the spring of 2006 to August 2007 the Ottawa Coop added over 800,000 bushels of additional grain storage.  The addition was spread across 4 locations - Burlington, Waverly, Ottawa and Scranton.  This addition brought Ottawa Coop's capacity to 8,044,000 bushels as of August 31, 2007.

 

 

 

  

             

                         Burlington                             Waverly

  
 

    

                                          Scranton

          

                                     Ottawa - Elevator "D"

  
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