Aroostook Milling: 60 years of changing and growing

    HOULTON — Determination and diversification.
    That’s what Doug Callnan says has helped Aroostook Milling navigate six decades in business.
    “This business is a lot different than it used to be,” he said.
Aroostook Milling’s crew in this circa 1957 photo includes, from left: Garold MacDonald, Clyde MacDonald, Bill Currier, Gerry Callnan, Leo Callnan and Bob Callnan.
    For example, when Aroostook Milling got its start 60 years ago, it was one of many grist mills throughout Maine.
    “Today, Aroostook Milling Company is the only one left,” he added.
    The feed mill business was launched in 1948 by Doug’s grandfather, Leo Callnan. At the time, Leo’s business roots were mostly in the Presque Isle area, and his other ventures included a saw mill in Mapleton. So, all the lumber for the Houlton feed mill was cut in Mapleton and trucked south to their Hillview Avenue site.
    “The mill has huge beams, double hardwood floors, bins that are 30 feet high made of 8-by-3s stacked on their sides,” says Doug.
    After completion, Leo ran the mill for a short time, but the mill continued as a family business with Leo’s son Robert (Doug’s father) running the business until his 1985 retirement. Also part of the operation, Gerry Callnan, another of Leo’s sons who worked at Aroostook Milling until his retirement in 1998.
Aroostook Milling’s original grain terminal was in this hanger at the Houlton airport, a building that would later become Houlton International.
    In the beginning, Aroostook Milling’s main business was making beef, dairy and poultry feeds, but in 1953, they added Blue Seal Feeds to the present line. Both bulk and bagged Blue Seal feed were sent by rail to the Houlton business, and Aroostook Milling is now one of the oldest and largest Blue Seal dealers.
    Over the years, explained Doug, Blue Seal has played an important part in the County’s economy by not only providing high quality livestock and pet feeds, but also by being a large consumer of locally-raised grains.
    In the late 1950s, Robert Callnan saw a need for a grain elevator in southern Aroostook — a place for farmers to sell their locally-raised oats. The company built their elevator in an airplane hangar at the Houlton airport (the building that would later become Houlton International). The family continued to use that site until the late 1960s when Robert built a grain elevator behind Hogan Tire on the Bangor Road, complete with a Bangor & Aroostook Railroad rail siding.
    In 1980, Doug returned to Houlton and joined the business. Also around that time, a major event for them was the departure of the Canadian Pacific rail line from Houlton. In response, the business added a trucking division in the early 1980s, and not long after, they began to truck locally-grown grains throughout New England and New York, bringing back finished bulk and bagged feed.
    The 1980s was also when Aroostook Milling began their lawn, garden, seed, pet food and farm supply division. Their retail store was added in 1989 and in 2000, the store size doubled with the addition of a four-season greenhouse. They brought on the Agway/Southern States franchise in 1997, a change which allowed them to offer many more lines of agricultural, home, lawn and garden products, as well as, solid fuels. Today, their grain elevator division has nearly doubled in size since the beginning and still plays a key role in providing an outlet for locally-grown grains.
    Doug, who worked in the business off and on starting in his high school years, says that adapting to the changing times has made a difference for the business.
Aroostook Milling’s current crew includes, from left: Laurel Veysey, Anne Callnan, Doug Callnan, June Horton, Kevin Carton, Tony Thorne, Matt Suitter, Peter Lawlor, Sarah Wotton, Jane Torres, Shane Quint and Ben Torres. Absent from the photo are: Kendall Fitzpatrick and Doug Batchelder.
    “In the beginning, they basically made livestock feed. There were a lot of cows around the area and a lot of backyard hogs and poultry,” he explained. “To give you an idea of how much it has changed: a lot of the farmers who hauled their grain weren’t just potato farmers; they wanted to keep their grain, which was a nice business for us because if they kept their grain, we would make a specific formula just for their animals. When I moved back, we had 40 of those type of customers — customers who had their own grain and we made their own feed out of that grain. Now, we just have one.”
    If they hadn’t started to diversify the business in the 1980s, their story could have been a lot different, he added.
    Callnan also credits their longevity to longtime employees.
    “Our people do stay here a long time,” he said. “For example, Laurel Veysey, our general manager, has been here 26 years, and June Horton, our bookkeeper, has been here 20 years.”
    As far as the future goes, Aroostook Milling is still adapting to changing times. Callnan said they’re currently working on a rail transfer station at their grain terminal that would be used for sending high-protein grains into Canada. Some of their leads stretch all the way to Nova Scotia.
    With the upswing in fuel prices, he says rail transport is becoming more important.
    “The trucking business has been very good to us,” he said. “But the strange thing is, with fuel prices the way they are, we’re almost starting to revert back the other way. We’re shipping a lot more in railroad cars than we used to.”