ca. 1931. A male employee at the Tacoma Grain Company holds a large filter that is used in the nearby grain sifter. This photograph was taken circa 1931.
ca. 1931. Two men in the quality control lab at Tacoma Grain Company do chemical tests on the flour being produced. A bag of Centennial silk-sfted flour sits on the lab bench.
ca. 1931. A line of men employees work at the flour bagging machines at the Tacoma Grain Company. A supervisor in white shirt, vest and tie oversees their work. The machines are used to fill a number of different bags. Bags are marked "Centennial - Silk Sifted - Family Flour"; "Cross Spears - Wong Sui Yuen"; and "Seattle - 100% Entire Whole Wheat Flour".
ca. 1931. Testing bakery at the Tacoma Grain Company. A woman hold a fresh loaf of bread as she stands next to a testing oven. There is a line of seven loaves of bread on the shelf behind her. A bag of Centennial Silk-Sifted Flour is prominently displayed on the shelf next to the oven.
The Board of Directors of General Mills honored Tacoma with a visit on April 22, 1957. After a board meeting, attendees were given a tour of the local plant. Plant officials answered questions from the board as they surveyed machinery used to package the flour. John W. Geddis, Sperry Mill plant superintendent, (left foreground) escorted a board member around the mill. Harry Bullis, General Mills Chairman of the Board, spoke at the meeting; he is believed to be the man to the furtherest left in the background. Tacoma's Sperry Flour Mill had a capacity of 8400 hundredweight of flour daily. The mill employed 250 local residents. Photograph ordered by General Mills, Inc. (TNT 4-22-57, p. 20)
General Mills, Inc., Sperry Division (Tacoma); Flour & meal industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Geddis, John W.;
A Consolidated truck, loaded with "fertilizer," is parked outside the old Sperry Mill on Bayside Drive in mid-February, 1969. The Sperry plant was owned by General Mills. Its flour mill had closed in July of 1965. Photograph ordered by Export Pacific, Inc.
General Mills, Inc., Sperry Division (Tacoma); Trucks--Tacoma--1960-1970;