Williams Bros.
Williams Bros., proprietors of the Peerless Mills, Kent. This firm is composed of Scott T. and Charles A. Williams, the two younger sons of the late Austin Williams, the former a farmer by occupation, and the latter a student of the Western Reserve College. They began business in 1879 in the erection of the Peerless Mills. The present main building was erected in 1880, and the mill started in June, 1881, fully equipped for the manufacture of 125 barrels of fiour daily by the "new process," as it was then known. At the end of two years the business had outgrown the building, also the capacity of the machinery for manufacturing, at which time (1883) the mill was enlarged by adding a wing nearly as large as the original building, the system of grinding changed to "full roller," the daily capacity increased from 125 to 200 barrels, and a feed department added. The mill is now 96x73 feet, five stories high, having a floor surface of over 35,000 square feet, and equipped in the best manner for flouring by the E. P. Allis system, containing sixteen full sets Gray roller mills, three clearing machines, twenty-one bolts, seven purifiers and aspirators, also dusters, centrifugals, packers, etc. It is run by a 100-horse-power engine, which is furnished with steam from two 75-horse- power boilers. As the mills are now run they consume from 250,000 to 300,000 bushels of wheat annually, and also have a capacity for grinding 150.000 bushels of corn. Grain for supplying the mill is largely bought from farmers at home, and the prices paid are equal to any market in the State, making the best of home markets for the farm. The proprietors are young men of push and enterprise, and fully understand all the details of the milling business, which is one of the leading industries of Kent.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885