Rolling along: Lehi landmark celebrates its 100th anniversary

LEHI — By 1905, Lehi farmers were getting tired of hauling wheat to American Fork for milling — something they had been doing for 15 years since the Spring Creek Flour Mill went out of business.

But in June of that year came an announcement in the Lehi Banner: A group of businessmen and other shareholders, who each invested $20,000, were forming a co-op to build a "a new flour mill with modern pattern and equipment."

The chosen location for the mill was on East Main Street, on the sugar factory spur of the Union Pacific Railroad. The three-story building, as the Banner reported, would contain "four sets of double rollers, one washer, two purifiers, two reels, one cleaner, one dust roller, one gyrator, one separator and one bran duster."

It was state of the art for early 20th-century America, and the new mill turned out it first flour on April 2, 1906.

One hundred years later, the Lehi Roller Mills is still doing what it does best: turning out high-quality baking flour, says Sherman Robinson, current owner and manager of the plant.

Robinson's grandfather, George G. Robinson, purchased the mill in 1910, and it has been owned and operated by the Robinson family ever since.

"My great-grandfather was a millwright and miller in Delaware," explains Robinson. "He came to Utah to help set up some early mills. In those days, almost every town had a flour mill or a grist mill. His son — my grandfather, George — came with him, and he stayed to work at a mill in American Fork. Then he bought this mill."

You could say that milling is in the Robinson genes. "Somewhere in America, for the past 200 years, there have been mills operating under the Robinson name. But, if you go back over the ocean, my ancestors have all been flour millers since the 1500s," Robinson says.

It's a legacy to be proud of, but at the same time something of a burden, says Robinson. "I've just always known I had this work to do."

Lucky for him, he enjoys it. But, he admits, the past few years have had their challenges. Milling is changing in this country, he says. "There are now only about 200 flour mills left, and only 15 or 20 that are this small. A lot of the small ones have closed up. We've bucked that trend so far."

Lehi Roller Mills will be celebrating its centennial tomorrow with a free pancake breakfast and tours of the historic facility. The Department of Agriculture convinced him that it was something to celebrate, Robinson says. "My nature is just to do the work."