Editor’s note: This is the first part of a three-part series on a brief history of the Tyrone Milling Company. Part I covers the last twenty-five years of mill ownership by David Hershey, of Spring Mount, and Bud Boom, of Eden Hill.
Tyrone Milling Company Inc. started as a gristmill, grinding local wheat and other grains into flour. The mill, located in Ironville, Snyder Township, was built alongside the Little Juniata River, which provided a steady water supply to power the horizontal waterwheel used in those early days.
According to Nancy S. Shedd, former director of the Huntingdon County Historical Society, the building was constructed in 1826. Nancy said, “In checking the tax assessments, which are part of our Society’s archival records, I found what appears to be reliable documentation of the mill having been taxed beginning in 1826 as part of the holdings of John Gloninger & Co. The gristmill was taxed at a consistent valuation from that date to 1846, when the area became a part of newly formed Blair County. Your mill is quite unusual for its early date and good state of preservation, and certainly for the fact that it continues to operate as a working mill.”
Over time, there were various mill owners, yet they all seemed to be fairly progressive people. When originally built, the mill capacity was rated at seventy-five barrels of flour per day. Eventually, Tyrone Milling became famous for its Golden Eagle brand flour. The mill also provided privately labeled flour for other entities such as Clover Farm Stores.
The waterwheel eventually was replaced by water-powered turbine engines, which created their own electricity. The turbine system functioned until 1947, when the mill was totally electrified. Tyrone Milling became a major marketer and processor of wheat. Consequently, it installed and operated the first commercial grain dryer in central Pennsylvania. Farmers from many miles away brought their wheat to market at Tyrone Milling.
Around 1945, the emphasis of the business changed from flour milling to feed manufacturing, and the mill has continued to be a major supplier of livestock feeds.
Boom and Hershey, 1981
In November 1981, Bud Boom and I purchased the business and the building. We’re both graduates of Penn State University in the College of Agriculture. My degree is in business management and Bud’s is in agronomy.
Buying a failing agri-business and turning it into a success is just what we’ve done. Prior to entering this venture, we had traveled to farms through the area to survey the farmers about rebuilding the business. The response was overwhelming; the farmers wanted a feed and seed company located in their area. On the results of the survey, we started the business and have increased it tremendously. We had a good feeling from the start, despite the fact that everyone told us we were crazy.
We’ve always placed much of our emphasis on dairy feeds, since our backgrounds are from the dairy industry and dairy feeds offered us the greatest market potential. Tyrone Milling was the first to offer complete feed programming to the local dairy industry and thereby improved feed efficiency and milk production on many local dairy farms. The concept quickly evolved and incorporated the first use of computers to local agriculture.
Bud and I established the concept of comprehensive feed programming. The process includes forage sampling and analysis, followed by a computerized feed program. Each one of our clients received a customized feed based upon the results of their forage samples. We introduced the concept of programming feeds for calves, heifers, and dry cows.
Specialty Feeds
We have begun to cater to some specialty feed markets. Many people are raising deer and elk in confinement settings, thereby creating a great market niche for us. Likewise, many people have developed a passion for feeding wildlife. Whether it’s birds, deer, or turkeys, we’ve developed some Tyco-brand feeds to aid the nutritional requirements of wildlife.
Our Tyco-brand horse feeds always have been popular and continue to grow as more people get involved in various equine activities. Four horse feeds are manufactured and marketed by Tyrone Milling: All Star, Sweet 11, Super Horse, and Hi-Glow. The products are designed to suit many different feeding programs as well as different age groups from young foals to older, mature horses. Much of our success comes from the feed formulations derived from our longtime nutritionist, Ken Johnson.
We also expanded the business by opening a larger retail store at the mill, which not only provides a larger sales area and needed office space, but contains a second-floor conference room to hold farmer-business meetings with representatives from seed and pesticide companies.
Today, the mill still functions with many new pieces of upgraded milling equipment, storage bins, grain dryer facilities, and mixing equipment. The operation is still housed in the original mill, which was built in 1826, making it the oldest utilized commercial building in central Pennsylvania.
Tyrone Milling hosts two open-house events during the year: one at Christmastime with Santa Claus and carriage rides and another event in April. Mill tours are conducted during both events. I have powerful, rugged Percheron draft horses that are featured annually in Tyrone’s Christmas parade. Four of my horses pull a hitch-wagon with Santa Claus aboard.
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