Health & Fitness
History Blog: Horner Flour Mill
The flour mill founded by John Horner had a second life as a foundry.
John Horner, who founded the hamlet of Union City, needed a way to convert his acres of wheat into flour, so in 1853 he built a flour mill in Union City, next to his landing.
The flour mill cost $85,000 and had eight “burrs” or grinding stones. A 75-horsepower steam engine was used to power the mill. After grinding his first flour, Horner competed in an agricultural fair and showed the very first bag of flour from the mill. Horner won a silver pitcher as first prize for the best flour against seven other mills. The sack was kept around as an important piece of agricultural history and in 1897 the the State Board of Trade had the sack on display.
In June of 1856, a financial panic caused Horner to run into money issues, leading him to sell his flour mill. Property values had deflated drastically and Horner was only able to sell the mill for $5,000. J. J. Hoe purchased the mill and continued keeping it in operation, grinding flour and taking either cash or flour as payment for the grinding. By 1859, the mill was operating at two barrels of flour daily. The mill still had the most grinding stones of any flour mill in California.
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By 1863, the mill was owned by C. J. Stevens and leased to Mr. Lindell. In September 1863, Mr. Lindell got caught up in the main shaft of the mill, breaking both of his legs. In 1869, C. J. Stevens moved the milling operation to Livermore, leaving the buildings vacant.
In 1870, George H. Tay & Company bought the buildings that housed the mill, moved them off of the landing and used them to house a foundry. Charles Naurt was the foundry manager. The foundry made stoves and was a large employer for Alvarado.
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It is unclear exactly when the old mill building was torn down. In 1905, the foundry was put up for sale. There is a reference to a foundry operating in 1917, but it is not clear if it operated from the building as the Tay foundry. By this time the buildings were over 50 years old and probably not in a good state. They likely would not have been around much longer after this date.