FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Many years ago, before Marvin and Joan Stieglitz moved their feed business to its current location northeast of Fort Wayne, there were 35 feed mills in Allen County.

Today there are only three – one on the southern county line and two in the northeastern part of the county.

“We’re still here because our family is committed to it, and we’ve diversified,” said Lynn Stieglitz, president of Milan Center Feed & Grain, and Marvin and Joan’s son. “We’ve found a niche that works for us. But it’s been challenging. The price of corn has been a challenge for anyone involved in the feed industry.

“There are also a lot of outside factors affecting the market, such as the growth of ethanol and the decrease in the dollar. These factors are changing the prices of inputs in a huge way.”

While Milan Center Feed & Grain is primarily a feed mill, it does purchase some grain from smaller-scale farmers and from the Amish population living in the area. Large-scale farmers take their grain directly to nearby terminals, but for the Amish, who generally bring theirs in horse-drawn wagons, having to travel a shorter distance with the grain is a plus, Stieglitz explained.

“We have dozens of Amish customers, and we provide the service for them. We never intended to get into the elevator business. We have added some grain storage over the years, but while we were doing that, larger elevators were pouring concrete and adding big silos,” he said.

Amish farmers in the area have begun raising more soybeans, which has become a viable cash crop for them, Stieglitz noted.

Marvin started in the feed business by selling bagged feed from the family farm east of Harlan, Ind., in the mid-1950s. In 1957, he opened a mill in Harlan. He had plans to expand his operation a few years later, and heard the property at Milan Center and Doty roads might be for sale.

He and Joan purchased the property, which had previously been a feed mill, in 1963. Over the years, the family has expanded at the site, including the renovation of the former Brueggemann Lumber Co. building into a retail store in 2004.

Marvin died in 2002 and Joan still owns the business, Lynn Stieglitz said. Lynn’s sister, Elizabeth, is the company’s secretary/treasurer and over the years, his six children have also worked there. It employs about 22 people.

The company is a dealer for two national brands, Alliance Nutrition and Purina Mills, Stieglitz explained. Milan Center Feed & Grain also manufactures its own feed for horses and swine.

“We have taken the time to work with 4-H and with people who have hobby farms,” he stated. “For dairy, we offer custom rations that are specially formulated to go with forages. There are people around here who raise pleasure horses and performance horses. We try to offer a complete line of feed and also, supplies.”

Stieglitz orders some feed for exotic animals at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo and for area farmers who raise animals such as alpacas, llamas and whitetail deer.

(This is the first in a short series about older grain elevators in the Midwest, and how – or if – they are still doing business today.)