OUR HISTORY
The Hoots Milling Company Roller Mill was built around 1935 by Zeno Daniel Hoots and his brother, Guy Andrew Hoots. The mill is Winston-Salem’s sole surviving facility erected in the twentieth century to process and store grain, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2013, Dewey Anderson and John Bryan joined together to develop the then-derelict mill in West End. Four years later, a thriving group of businesses occupies the former Hoots Milling Company roller mill and warehouses, now known as West End Mill Works.
Since 2022, West End Mill Works has been owned by a team of entrepreneurs who are passionate about continuing to support the community of small businesses that have brought the mill back to life. Our team is thrilled that the mill is where Winston-Salem comes together.
The Entrepreneurial legacy of the American milling industry.
Roman architect Vitruvius developed the earliest technology for a water mill in 19 B.C. The technology for hydraulic milling remained largely unchanged for thousands of years.
It was American entrepreneurs, like Oliver Evans and Cadwaller Washburn, who made great innovations in the 18th and 19th centuries and transformed the industry. When it was operational, our mill utilized these new American technologies to produce its flour.
The legacy of American innovation still exists in the mill today. Although the mill no longer produces flour, it continues to promote the ideals of passion, persistence, and entrepreneurship, with a community that t embodies the American Dream.