Hayden Flour Mill
119 S Mill Avenue
The first stop along this historic Mill Avenue walking tour is at the building for which this Tempe street derives its name: The Hayden Flour Mill. The mill was built by Charles T. Hayden in 1874 and stands to represent where the city truly begins. Hayden’s Mill was built just south of the shore of the Salt River and had easy access to Hayden’s Ferry, which Charles T. Hayden owned and operated. The ferry allowed travelers, their wagons, and their materials safe passage across the Salt River to and from Phoenix to the north. The mill was Tempe’s most important building in the town’s early existence. It allowed the local farmers that Hayden hoped would move to his new town the ability to grind their grain into flour, vital to a farming settlement and the developing Phoenix area for flour based products like bread.
Business development along Mill Avenue spouted from Hayden’s mill’s success. It was a natural byproduct of the road leading to the farming town’s lifeblood. The mill was estimated to be producing millions of dollars worth of output during the earlier territorial days, servicing a great deal of the Arizona territory, including the American army. Hayden Flour Mill also employed a large swath of Hispanic settlers and residents of the Tempe area throughout its years of operation. The mill was a hub of opportunity for Hispanic workers, especially those leaving the military in the 1960s.
Hayden’s Mill has stood the test of time despite facing destruction many times. The mill that was first constructed would actually be burned in 1895, as would the second version of the mill in 1918. This second mill was replaced the same year by a third that the Hayden family operated until the 1980s. It remained active until 1998, under operation by the Bay State Milling Company. The final additions to the Mill were added in 1951, featuring a concrete grain elevator and silos. For a third and final time, the main building of the Mill was burned, yet again, in 2002, destroying many of the additions made since its rebuild in 1918. Presently, the Mill has been reacquired by the city of Tempe and is preserved as an historic landmark. Still, the city hopes to redevelop the property, and has fielded proposal plans for how to do so as recent as 2021.