Buchanan Cellers

855 NE 5th Street  |  Built 1888

Flour milling once flourished in McMinnville, and Buchanan Cellers stands as one of the few tangible
reminders of the city’s agricultural heritage. This five-and-a-half-story heavy-timber-framed building
ranks among McMinnville’s tallest and oldest industrial structures.

Barnekoff and Allyn constructed the original four-story flouring mill, in 1888, next to the railroad. They
equipped it with modern roller milling technology powered by mechanical drives rather than water
wheels. This innovation produced finer, more consistent flour at greater volume and lower cost, helping
local farmers shift from small-scale stone grinding to a commercial economy. The mill later became
Houck’s Flouring Mill, famous for its “Pride of the Valley” brand. In the mid-1920s, Charles Buchanan
and Alec Cellers took ownership and operated it as Buchanan-Cellers Grain Company. For decades,
farmers delivered wagonloads of wheat while workers operated chutes, pulleys, and belts inside the
humming mill to turn raw grain into flour that fed local families and supported the growing city of
McMinnville.

In 1945, owners expanded the fifth floor and constructed a three-story west side addition with a loading
dock. A warehouse expansion to the east followed in 1949, raising it 16 feet using salvaged 20-by-36-inch
beams from Tillamook Burn old-growth Douglas-fir,and adding the four-story cribbed bins on the
building’s north side. Over time, the mill evolvedinto a family-run feed, pet supply, and garden store known
as Valley Feed & Supply. Margaret and Jerry Legard purchased the business, including the historicbuilding
and remaining mill equipment and, in 2007, revived the Buchanan-Cellers name to honor its long-time
owners. In 2012, they successfully listed the building in the National Register of Historic Places.

Buchanan Cellers anchors the original industrial district with the gateway to the Granary District. Its creaking
timber beams and worn wooden floors illustratethe story of McMinnville’s last intact flour mill.

For images of the the building, and further details, check out the links below:

Buchanan Cellers Website

History of Major Additions and Alterations