The Yukon’s Best Flour mills in Yukon, Oklahoma, made the list of 2021’s Most Endangered Places by Preservation Oklahoma.
The 2021 list hadn’t been posted on Preservation Oklahoma’s website as of Friday afternoon. However, a mailer by the nonprofit organization announced the annual listing.
Preservation Oklahoma issues the list each year to bring awareness of historic landmarks across the state, which may increase restoration efforts for them.
It wrote about the flour mills:
An icon of the skyline, the elevators/flour mills flanking Route 66 have been the topic of much discussion about progress and preservation in the town of Yukon. Built around 1900, the mills are a staple of the community, so much so the high school mascot is “the Millers.” Talk in the town is that the mills may be torn down to make room for a five-story, high-end office park, apartment building and two multi-level parking garages. The mills are a source of pride for residents and the massive sign atop one of the mills was refurbished with donated funds a few years ago. The future is uncertain for the mills, as the sale is expected to close in October 2021.
News about the proposed Yukon Technology Center development broke in January. The developer, Yukon native David Jones, told one Oklahoma City media outlet he had no plans to tear down the mills.
However, artist’s rendering of the development shows no mills there, and the current tenant was given notice to move out.
A subsequent Change.org petition protesting the development and teardown of the mills gained more than 2,700 signatures.
In late March, KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City contacted the developer:
On Tuesday, however, the developer confirmed he has no plans of demolishing the silos and taking away their history.
“Everything is still in the planning stages, but I want to build a technology center, a convention center, hotel and possibly a historical museum,” David Jones said.
While he told KOCO 5 that he wouldn’t tear down the silos completely, he wouldn’t go into detail about what would stay. Jones’ website also does not show them at all.
Note the careful wording. It means at least a partial teardown is on the table.
According to an article in The Oklahoman newspaper, the Kroutil brothers produced Yukon’s Best Flour and other products at those mills until about 1970, when they sold the operation to competing Shawnee Milling Co. The mills closed two years later.
Others that made Preservation Oklahoma’s Most Endangered Places list.
- Canadian County Jail and Stables, El Reno
- Tallchief Mansion, Fairfax
- Old First National Bank, Kingston
- Old City Jail, Oklahoma City
- First United Methodist Church, Terral
- Old City Hall, Theater and Masonic Lodge, Heavener
- WWII hangars, Chickasha Airport
- W.S. Kelly Merchandise, Cogar
- Fire Station No. 1, Guthrie
(Image of the Yukon’s Best Flour mill in Yukon, Oklahoma, by Steve Walser via Flickr)
Does this mean all the buildings are safe from demolition? Even if they are saved, how will they look hidden away by and surounded by whatever David Jones wants to build on the land adjacent to the flour mills? Any building needs to be able to be viewed and appreciated. Look at how St Paul’s Cathedral in London is now dwarfed by the tower blocks and high office buildings erected close to it over the past half century. Any preservation order should preserve not just the mills but the ability to view them as well.
When they considered tearing down the Gillioz Theater in Springfield, MO, they discovered that its concrete construction made it more expensive to destroy than to renovate. Surely, a building as massive & sturdy as Yukon Mills can be renovated into a multi-tenant, multi-use place, possibly with something to draw tourists. For example, how about a skytop restaurant? And a live performance venue? Perhaps apartments with retail and a visitors’ center and museum at ground level? There’s nothing new about this; it’s been done before. Surely, a clever architect and local businessmen can turn this into something. As for the tech park & convention center, Yukon is too close to OKC, which already has those things and is in a better position to leverage those attractions. Leave Small Town America as it is.