Minneapolis became known as the "Flour Milling Capital of the World" in 1880, but smaller towns in Minnesota also had successful flour mills. In 1880, two Minneapolis businessmen built the Lincoln Flouring Mill in Anoka, Minnesota. The Lincoln Mill became one the largest country flour mills in the state, surviving until 1939 in spite of catastrophes like the Anoka fire of 1884.
From the 1860s to the 1880s, Anoka and neighboring areas were in search of new industries to replace the dying lumber industry. Many businessmen and speculators moved their investments from sawmills to flour mills. They also used their influence to expand the Soo Line railroad into Minneapolis. Two of Anoka's flour men were William D. Hale and William D. Washburn, brother of General Mills founder and Wisconsin governor Cadwallader Colden (C.C.) Washburn.
In 1880, Hale and William D. Washburn built a large, state-of-the-art mill on the Rum River in Anoka. They called it the Lincoln Flouring Mill, named after Abraham Lincoln because of the Washburn family's political support for him. The Lincoln Mill was not the first mill in Anoka, but it was the largest, with a capacity of 600 to 700 barrels of flour per day. The first flour mill in Anoka was built in 1854 and powered by water. Washburn purchased it several years later, but he built the Lincoln Mill because the first mill could not meet the day's increased demand for flour.
A great fire swept through Anoka in 1884, and the Lincoln Mill was destroyed along with most of the town's industrial area. The fire could have devastated the young town of Anoka, but the people of Anoka pressed on. The mill was rebuilt immediately with an increased capacity of 1,600 barrels of flour per day. It opened in time for the 1885 wheat season. The Washburn Milling Company, which operated the Lincoln Mill, received assistance from Anoka County for the rebuilding. After residents circulated a petition, the Anoka County Board decided to exempt the company from taxation.
In 1889, the Lincoln Mill was sold to an English company with interests in Minnesota flour. The sale was part of a bigger business deal. William D. Washburn and Charles A. Pillsbury merged their companies and created a business syndicate called Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company. It was owned by the English but managed by Pillsbury and Washburn. In 1910, the company was reorganized and named Pillsbury Flour Mills Company.
During World War I, the Lincoln Mill was used for corn instead of flour. After the war, the mill was reconditioned and used to make Durum wheat products. It was the first mill in the United States to manufacture Durum products, which are used in spaghetti and macaroni, among other things.
Most of Lincoln Mill was torn down in 1933, but the grain elevator and first floor remained. The grain elevator was used until 1939, when the rest of the structure was torn down. In 1950, the riverside tract of land that held the mill was sold to the city of Anoka. As of 2012, Anoka City Hall still stood on the former site of the Lincoln Mill.