Sleepy Eye Milling Company Promotional Flour Textile Advertisement. Flour sack by Sleepy Eye Milling Company, depicting an image of Chief Sleepy-Eye before President Monroe, labeled near bottom of image. 

Founded in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, in 1883, the Sleepy Eye Flour Milling Company grew into one of the nation’s largest rural mills, with its main complex built between 1901 and 1919—including a five‑story brick mill, power house, elevator, grain tanks, and a 175‑foot chimney. Under President A. C. VanHagen, the mill expanded rapidly but fell into receivership in 1909, relocated its operations to Minneapolis by 1914, and was sold off to Kansas Flour Mills by 1917; it ultimately ceased operations in 1921. The company became widely recognized for its “Old Sleepy Eye” logo—a Native American chief image used on a vast array of promotional pottery premiums like mugs, pitchers, and collectibles, many produced by Weir Pottery (later Western Stoneware) well into the 1930s. Although the milling operations ended over a century ago, the original mill building is notably the largest intact milling facility in Minnesota and today serves private storage use, while its branded ceramics remain highly collectible across the U.S.

Overall Size: 30 1/4 x 30 1/2 n.
Sight Size: 21 x 21 1/2 in.