Queen Bee Mill, Sioux Falls

The Queen Bee Mill is a ruined mill complex located in Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Opened in 1881, the mill operated intermittently for several different owners during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A 1956 fire led to the site's demolition, leaving the ruins that stand today. The mill site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The mill was built between 1879 and 1881 under the guidance of politician Richard F. Pettigrew, who believed that Sioux Falls could harness the power of the Big Sioux River for local industry. When it opened on October 25, 1881, the mill could process 1200 barrels of grain per day, and its elevator could hold 130,000 bushels; it also had connections to all five of the city's rail lines through a spur of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway. Despite the mill's high capacity, it suffered from weaker than expected water power and a poor supply of wheat, and it was financially unsuccessful. It closed on April 20, 1883, less than two years after it opened, and its operators went bankrupt. The mill sat vacant until 1911, when the United Flour Mills Company of Minneapolis bought the site. United Flour Mills operated the mill until 1916 or 1918 and were responsible for electrifying the complex. After they ended regular operations at the mill, the Commander-Larabee Company used it occasionally through 1929. The property was converted to warehouse space in 1937, and it remained in use as such until 1956. A fire destroyed the complex in 1956, and its remains were demolished in 1961. The foundations of the mill and grain elevator are all that remain at the site. The mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1984. When it opened, the mill complex included four buildings: the mill itself, a grain elevator, a warehouse, and a cooper's workshop. The mill stood seven stories high with a footprint of 80 by 100 feet. The elevator was shorter than the mill at four stories high, and it measured 142 by 50 feet at its base. All four buildings were constructed from quartzite quarried at the building site. The complex also included a dam, mill race, and turbine to supply power to the mill. The entire mill cost roughly $500,000 to build.

Citizens of Sioux Falls, including R.F. Pettigrew and others, realized that building a flour mill at the Falls of the Big Sioux River might provide a ready market for the region's wheat. Pettigrew convinced Colonel James H. Drake of St. Paul to build the mill. Pettigrew and a consortium purchased 40 acres of land for the site for $40,000 from W. W. Brooking. A New York investor, George Seney, traveled to Sioux Falls and decided to invest money for the mill. In August, 1879 work began on the construction of the Queen Bee Mill. The mill was really a complex of buildings which included the mill structure, grain elevator, warehouse, cooper’s shop and railroad siding. The mill was designed by J. W. McKeen of Minneapolis, who supervised the construction of the buildings.

The Queen Bee Mill stood looming over the falls of the Big Sioux River for 75 years before fire took it in 1956. The base of the once imposing structure stands today, a reminder of the promise of young Sioux Falls. The mill was the brainchild of Richard F. Pettigrew, the famous Sioux Falls booster, lawyer, entrepreneur and South Dakota’s first U.S. senator. The notion was sound: to provide a place for locally sourced wheat to be turned into flour. Up to this point, wheat had to be hauled to Minnesota to be milled. In 1878, Pettigrew enlisted the aid of New Jersey banker George I. Seney to invest in the finest and most modern flour mill west of the Mississippi River. ***PH***