Bomberger, Isaac - 1881

THE BARR OF PUBLIC OPINION
One of our Prominent Business Enterprises and the Man who Conducts it.
Lititz is not blessed with even a fair proportion of manufacturing industries, but such as it has are not inferior in point of excellence to similar institutions elsewhere, and in certain cases we may fairly lay claim to superiority.  This is true of the milling business conducted by Mr. E. J. Barr, in the large frame mill.

The building was originally used as a distillery and was erected in the year 1865.  In 1871 it was converted into a steam grist mill by Isaac Bomberger, and thenceforth odorous breezes assailed not the sensitive nostrils of the public, and the mill forsook the error of its ways-gave up drinking and took to chewing.  A couple of years thereafter, Mr. A. M. Bruckart succeeded to the proprietorship and continued until 1876, when Mr. E. J. Barr purchased the property.

Since then Mr. Barr has added many valuable improvements and enlarged the building considerably, increasing the storage capacity largely.  The mill is a three-story structure, roomy and most conveniently arranged.  The engine is of eighteen horse power and is supplied with water from two good wells and a large tank.  The new coal house is convenient to the engine room and is in its way a model, having a cement floor and other improvements.

The mill has a grinding capacity of about three hundred bushels a day of chop and wheat combined.  At present about thirty bushels of chop and twelve barrels of flour is the average, besides the custom work.  The flour made is of excellent quality and sells readily in Reading, where Mr. Barr has established a good market.  A large quantity of grain-corn, oats and wheat, is now in store, and more arriving constantly.

Mr. Barr has received two car loads of wheat of the crop of ’81, and assures us that it makes a fine quality of flour-much better than the old wheat.  The inside arrangement of the new wing to the mill is not yet finished, but when completed preparations will be made for a busy season.

Mr. Barr is one of the men who thoroughly understands his business and takes a personal pride in conducting it upon the sound principle of integrity in every department.  A competent miller, a public spirited citizen, Mr. Barr is essentially a “live man” who is successful because he compels success and deserves it
~ The Lititz Record, 30-Sept-1881, Page 3, Column 4