The Shane Brothers, Fred and George, owned Philadelphia based Millbourne Mills in the first years of the 20th Century where they produced King Midas Flour. In collaboration with W.J. Wilson, they purchased Gardner Mills in Hastings, Minnesota bringing their operation in strategic proximity to Midwest grain production.
Harrison H. Graham who produced Graham flour, a brand that remains popular to this day, founded the flourmill in Hastings, Minnesota in 1853. Stephen Gardner acquired the mill in 1863 and renamed the enterprise Gardner Mills. Gardner is credited with the development of patent flour, which is modern bakery flour. He connected a reel sifter to a fan, which separated lighter bran and the remaining smaller particles were filtered through silk cloth resulting in a purified product.
Gardner's daughter married Charles Espenschied in 1878, and he assumed management of the mill in 1885. Espenschied devised a flour barrel that was fabricated with alternating thin hard and thick soft slats, which when banded formed a seal as the thin hard slates bit into the thick soft reducing loss in transit. He was also the first known to use magnets to remove metal objects, such as wire, from the raw grain before processing.
Seymour Carter acquired Gardner Mills in 1897, and significantly expanded operations. This rapid expansion, although initially successful, caused financial difficulties and the subsequent loss of the facility to Wilson and the Shane brothers in 1912. Gardner Mills was renamed the King Midas Mill and the flour produced was called King Midas Flour as it was in the Philadelphia based Millbourne Mills.
The King Midas Mill began producing hard durum wheat flour for pasta circa 1914. After World War I, government price regulations of grain and flour were rescinded, leaving Wilson and the Shane brothers with a vast inventory surplus. This unexpected excess in raw and processed stock may have required the sale of the facility to Van Dusen and Harrington in 1924. The new owners died within one month of each other in 1928 and the Peavey Company acquired the mill.
The Peavey Company, a large Minneapolis flour producer, operated under the King Midas moniker taking advantage of the excellent reputation of the product. Production of King Midas durum wheat flour was moved to a mill in Superior, Wisconsin in 1939, and the Hastings site produced only bread wheat flour until a durum semolina and pasta flour unit was built in 1970.
In 1982, the Peavey Company merged with Omaha-based ConAgra Inc., a diversified international food company boasting more than 70 brands.