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Agroliance still known by its old name: Millard Feed

A photo gallery of this Mystery Place is HERE.

Many local residents probably still call the building at W6406 County Highway A the Millard Feed Mill. But as of October, 2010, the new name is Agroliance; the owners are still named Cook. And when I looked in the phone book, it is still listed as Millard Feed Mill.

The first feed mill for this community was just south of the church in the heart of Millard. It was built by Oscar Habeck in the early 1920s. At first, the corn and wheat were ground using power from a Waukesha motor. The mill switched power sources in the late 1920s, when electricity came to the area.

About that same time, another mill opened just south of Millard School that was located west of Millard where County Highway O heads south off of County Highway A.

Some of the area farmers didn’t think the competition of a new mill was fair to the owner of the original, and apparently the new mill did not last.

Earl Cook bought the mill from Habeck in 1947.

It burned in 1958, so Cook bought five acres to the east on Highway A and rebuilt his business.

The rebuilt mill had a fire of its own in 1996 but continued its operation.

That fire destroyed mainly the fertilizer and agricultural chemical parts of the mill.

Cook died soon after that fire and his son, Bob, took over the operation. He had been working at the mill since 1982. Actually, he did small jobs around the mill since he was 11 years old when he was responsible for keeping track of the feed sacks.

The mill has seen dramatic changes over the years.

In 1960 they started the fertilizer business and in 2011, they got out of the feed mill business.

In 2005 Bob Cook bought the feed mill in Avalon in Rock County. He expanded the feed and fertilizer business there and then sold it to Gavilon.

The community of Millard was named for our 13th president, Millard Fillmore, who served from 1850 to 1853. When this community first was established, it was known as Barker’s Corners, the name of an early settler.

Around 1852 the post office, located in the store of the community, was named Millard.