A commemorative history of Midland Marketing Cooperative 1915 - 2015
General
Managers
Vance Westhusin
Ken Herman
Dan M. Pfeifer
Walter Stanton
1993 -
2
1934-1971
1971-1993
1919-1934
First
Board of Directors
Louis Kraus James Ross Joe P. Rupp
Alex J. Herklotz William Gottschalk Nick A. Pfannenstiel
Charter T. A. Werth N. B. Zimmerman Thebold Bieker Alex Zimmerman Felix Werth A. D. Zimmerman Anton Werth J. A. Dinges James Ross F. W. Kraus Geo. Bellman H. W. Byress Alouis Rupp John Mier Joe Binder F. A. Pfannenstiel P. P. Gross Casper Leiker Nick A. Pfannenstiel John Engel Frank H. Atwood Frank Schoendaller M. L. Moore James A. Swires Igna A. Sack Martin Orth G. C. Riedel
Gus A. Riedel P. J. Gabel T. A. Werth
Members
Alex Pfannenstiel A. J. Gabel P. J. Gabel Frank P. Unrein Joe Ruder F. P. Brungardt Paul Dreher H. W. Joy J. P. Rupp G. A. Riedel J. R. Chittenden W. H. Truan Ed Belander Louis Gottschalk John Zimmerman Henry Gottschalk A. F. Werth J. J. Werth J. P. Ruder Anton J. Werth Paul Dinges John Lattigan J. H. Kraus Jacob Rogh Peter Grabbe John M. Leiker A. C. Wassinger
A. J. Herklotz Carl Werth N. R. Werth N. Zimmerman T. W. Werth J. C. Werth William Gottschalk Carl Dinges J. H. Chlopek C. T. Moore W. A. Campbe Joe D. Unrein A. W. Mier A. J. Kraus Nick J. Pfannenstiel John Rupp Joseph Engel Nick Zimmerman Matthias Grabbe Jacob F. Schoendaller C. A. Hawks J. C. Haddock Matt Truan John Sites Louis Kraus Joe Bahl
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A century of
History
In 1906, a few progressive farmers saw the need for a farmer-owned and operated grain elevator. This was the first attempt to organize a co-op in the Hays area. Through their efforts and activity, they joined what they called The Farmers Grain Shipping Association. The farmers around Hays subscribed purchased an elevator and warehouse. They contracted with the Kansas Flour Mill Company of Enterprise, Kansas, to operate these facilities. Financial trouble caused the elevator to fail and the assets were bought by Kansas Flour Mill. With the help of the Farmers Union and local organizations in the area, another organizational effort was started in 1914 and the Farmers Cooperative Association was successfully incorporated. Midland Marketing obtained their charter on January 6, 1915 in Hays under the name of Farmers Cooperative Association (of Hays). This generic name was used by many co-ops organized in the early 1900s and a few of those early co-ops still bear this name. The name was changed to Midland Marketing Co-op, Inc. in 1993. A board of nine directors was elected from the original 81 founding members. They purchased the elevator and related facilities that the earlier failed co-op had sold to Kansas Flour Mill. They bought the elevator that the Farmers Shipping Association built in 1906 from Kansas Flour Mill for $5,000. The charter members raised $10,000 of capital to finance the new business venture. Trouble beset them five years later when a neighboring business’s gasoline storage tank exploded, causing a fire that burned down all their facilities, including an added coal shed. The farmers in the area raised $25,000 to not only rebuild the facilities, but to also purchase another elevator in Yocemento for $7,500 from Hays City Flour Mill. In the early 1930’s a bulk gasoline and oil distributing business was established as farmers began switching from horse power to tractor power. The great depression peaked in 1933 and the co-op nearly went bankrupt. They survived this time of financial trouble, poor crops, and dust storms with the help of the Wichita Bank for Cooperatives and the commitment of their members. In 1935, the company installed a feed grinding and mixing business. This was used to process and mix dairy, hog, and poultry feeds. This proved to be a money-maker for the company. Shortly after this, the company established a service station at the corner of Ninth and Pine Streets to better serve it’s customers. In 1936, the company started to buy cream on a commission basis until 1941 when they installed their own testing and handling equipment and began buying cream independently which proved to be a profitable change.
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The stock cooperative association decided to change to a 100 percent membership-basis beginning in 1939. This change helped the company comply with the the state and federal laws that govern cooperatives. At that time the membership fee was set at $10. The growth of the business accelerated during and after World War II. Membership had expanded from the original 81 charter members to 176 in 1938 and 1,000 in 1943. Today Midland Marketing has 978 owner members and serves over 4,100 customers. Storage capacity for wheat had become problematic, causing the company to expand numerous times in the 1940s and 1950s by leasing facilities in Hays and Toulon. In 1947, the company constructed the first concrete elevator in Hays with 200,000 bushel capacity. Additional storage was built in 1950 and 1954, raising capacity to 865,000 bushels. The first merger took place in 1957 with the Plainville Oil cooperative. Numerous grain elevators were built in the late 1950s including branch elevators at Yocemento, Plainville and Toulon. By 1960, the four elevator locations had a storage capacity of about 3.6 million bushels. Midland Marketing merged with three other co-ops: Zurich in 1966, Natoma Cooperative Association in 1982, and Farmers Union Cooperative of LaCrosse in 1992 (which included facilities in Hargrave and McCracken). In 2004, Midland Marketing leased facilities from Archer Daniel Midland (ADM) in Palco, Brownell, and McCracken. The company bought the facilities from ADM six years later in 2010. Today there are grain elevators in all eleven locations with a total storage capacity of over 9.6 million bushels.
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Current
Board of Directors
Tom Benoit
Brian Staab
John Irvin
LesLie Rogers
Mike Werth
Doug Keas
Duane Dorzweiler
Damion Dix
Rod Marcott
1990 -
2003 -
2010 -
1991 -
2005 -
2010 -
1993 -
2006 -
2010 -
Hays
Yocemento
Toulon
Plainville
Zurich
Natoma
Lacrosse
Hargrave
Mccracken
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Palco
Brownell
Past
Board
Louis Kraus
H. W. Joy
NIck Pfannenstiel
Joe p. Rupp
J. R. Chittenden
William Gottschalk
Peter J. Walter
Gus Riedel
George johnson
R. A. Leiker
Joe Bahl
R. D. Joy
1915-1918
1919
18
Members
1921-1951
1915-1919 & 1919-23
1919-1920 & 1929-1939
1924-1942 & 1943-1957
1915-1919
1919-1923
1925-1934
1915 & 1916-1919
1921-1924
1925-1926 & 1929-1943
Adie Crissman
C. W. Kraus
O. M. StraIley
Frank E. Karlin
Harry Kirkman
Hans Jensen
Paul J. SchMidt
A. C. Wasinger
Alex Schmidt
Walter C. Joy
John P. Gross
Peter W. Johnson
William Johnson
Felix Roth
Fidelis Engel
Ray Wasinger
1927-1930
1934-1943
1942-1960 & 1962-1968
1946-1958 & 1960-1966
1929-1959
1934-1943
1944-1953
1948-1959 & 1962-1968
1913-1934
1936-1951
1943-1945
1950-1958
1931-1950
1939-1948
1951-1952
1951-1957
19
Fidelis Befort
Benno Karlin
Joe Luecke
Alphonse Gross
Walter R. Joy
Adam Garvert
Alois Binder
Frank polifka
norman Johnson
Alex Gross
Clarence Hageman
kenneth Kraus
James Hrabe
Francis C. Staab
ora Baldwin
Fidelis Engel Jr.
1952-1958 & 1964-1967
1957-1963 & 1970-1976
1959-1965 & 1968-1972
20
1965-1968
1954-1957 & 1959-1962
1958-1964
1963-1968
1966-1970
1956-1962 & 1963-1969
1958-1964
1964-1968
1966-1970
1957-1963
1958-1964
1964-1970
1967-1973
Robert Towns
Walter Urban
Herman Davis
ALBERT KELLER
RICHARD DECHANT
DELBERT WALTERS
DUANE LAMBERT
JOHN KRAUS
Paul Binder
John Schmidt
richard pfeifer
Adolph Billinger
Raymond Armbrister
Leo walter
Robert KRiley
Cliff Pfannenstiel
1968-1970
1969-1976
1973-1982
1976-1985
1968-1974
1970-1977
1980-1986
1977-1983
1969-1975
1971-1977
1975-1981
1977-1980
1969-1975
1972-1978
1975-1981
1978-1993
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Orville Haselhorst
Melvin Keller
wayne Armbrister
charles l. Schmidt
Donald Casey
Richard Kreutzer
Glenn Lambert
Ron Westhusin
Orville PFortmiller
Mike Grabbe
Duane Steeples
Arlyn north
Frank Joy
Charles W. Kraus
harold Lowry
Jerry Mcreynolds
1974-1980 & 1986-1989
1983-1989
1989-1992
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1981-2002
1980-1983
1985-1991
1989-1995
1997-2003
1981-1987
1987-1990
1991-1997
2002-2004
1982-1994
1988-1991
1995-1998
1994-2006
E. kent stamper
1976-1988 & 1992-2007
Norman Legleiter 1998-2010
Todd Wasinger 2007-2010
Bill Hoffman 1983-2013
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Your crops, Your Company,
Your Profits, All Local.