Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Hopkinsville Milling Company

A landmark of Hopkinsville, KY



Hopkinsville Milling Company, Hopkinsville, KY

The elevators of Hopkinsville Milling are a familiar sight to anyone who's ever been around Hopkinsville. They sit at the head of Fort Campbell Boulevard, on one side of the strange 5-sided intersection where "The Boulevard" (as folks say) meets Walnut Street and East 21st Street.

According to an article by Kim Schippers that was published in the July 21, 2004, Kentucky New Era, a mill has been in operation in this location since 1907. At that time, it would have been at the outskirts of town along the road to Clarksville, overlooking some of Kentucky's finest farmland.

When we first moved to this area, I was interested in buying flour in bulk and I didn't know where to find it. One day I stopped by the mill and asked a surprised employee there if I could buy a 50-pound bag of flour. He wasn't sure if I could or not, so he summoned the manager. The manager said it had been 15 years or more since they had sold any flour "out the mill door". (I remember that he used that phrase.) Now it has been 30 years or more, I guess.

I suppose I should be ashamed of myself for not buying Sunflour flour and cornmeal more often. They have many loyal customers here but I still tend to use Gold Medal flour and Quaker cornmeal as I have for most of the years I've been cooking. I was amazed to hear a lady in a store one day asking, "Is that Gold Medal flour any good?" She was probably one of the many dedicated users of Sunflour products.

Those who live abroad in the service of the United States don't have to do without Sunflour products. The Embassy Grocer offers "Hopkinsville Sunflour Self-Rising Flour 5-lb." for just $1.42 (plus shipping.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

During a stay with friends a few years back they served us grits with the name of Hoovers Mill. they are awesome and we brought back as many as we could on the plane with us. But we cannot find where we might be able to order some. Is there a source we can order a case? Linda Monday
qtface@msn.com

Genevieve Netz said...

Hi, Linda. Thanks for visiting Prairie Bluestem. I am not a big fan of grits, so I don't pay much attention to the various brands. In fact, I had never dreamed that any brand of grits was better than another. I thought a grit was a grit.

However, you have raised my curiosity, and I'm going to look for Hoover grits in the stores around here and give them a try if I find them.

I think I found the grits you are looking for online. It took some searching. I finally found them by googling "Hoover cornmeal" since I thought any mill that made grits would surely make cornmeal too.

Unfortunately, the homepage of that site indicates they are no longer selling most of the food items in their online catalog.

If I see any Hoover Quick Grits around here, I will certainly let you know.

Pam said...

If you go to WilliamsFamilyFarm.com, they sell Hoover’s cornmeal and grits.

Linda said...

Hi my name is Linda,
I'm also searching for Hoover grits, we have the cornmeal in some of the stores but not the grits.They are the best( the key to great grits is to beat them real good after they are done,add your butter and cheese is good.Panama City,Fla.

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