The earliest archaeological evidence of wheat seeds crushed to produce flour dates back 30,000 years. Crushing between simple millstones to make flour dates to 6000BC.
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Traditionally, mills were powered by water or wind to grind the grain between two large stones.
Late in the 18th century, the first steam-powered mills appeared.
One of the first industries to arrive in Albury was flour milling.
Albury historian Dr Arthur Andrews recorded that in the 1840s: "John Dight built a small flour mill, worked by water power, on an anabranch of the river, at Bungowannah" and Alexander (Sandy) Moon had a mill "at the foot of Eastern Hill".
Andrews continued: "the first steam flour mill was built by Richard Heaver, in Hume-street," on land "which he bought at the Government sale in July 1846".
The site is now occupied by a Jaycar Electronics store.
Fanny Ceres Mill was a steam-powered mill on the corner of Dean and Townsend Streets, built by James McLaurin.
The mill had a grand opening with a large party on New Year's Day, 1856.
It was named 'Fanny' for the first European child born in Albury, Fanny Brown, daughter of Albury's first European settler and 'Ceres' for the Roman goddess of agriculture.
Grind stones from Sandy Moon's mill were installed in the new mill.
Fanny Ceres Mill quickly established a reputation for the high quality flour it produced. The Dean/Townsend Streets corner became known at the time as Fanny Ceres Mill corner.
In 1861, George Day leased the mill and the following year he purchased the mill in exchange with McLaurin for the 90,000-acre (36,421 ha) Yarra Yarra run, near Germanton (Holbrook).
A Melbourne newspaper reported that "the superiority of the well-known 'Fanny Ceres' brand is likely to be maintained by Mr Day, and farmers will have good reason to be satisfied".
Hayes brothers took over Fanny Ceres Mill in January 1871.
Their father had mills in Sydney and Yass and the brothers established mills in other towns, including Goulburn, Wagga and Gundagai.
James Hayes managed the Albury mill.
Hayes closed Fanny Ceres in January 1887 and moved the operation to a new roller mill on the western side of Townsend Street close to Dean Street.
In 1885, Charles Lucas Griffith had purchased for 4000 pounds that part of Fanny Ceres closest to the corner and after demolition, he built the Beehive Building. The rest of the Fanny Ceres building remained until well into the 20th century.
