1) Abram Ganz and Andras Mechwart were influential figures in the development of roller flour milling in Budapest in the mid-19th century. Ganz established the first steam-powered roller mill in Budapest and later founded his own foundry to manufacture roller mill stands. Mechwart worked with Ganz and later headed the Ganz factory. 2) By the late 19th century, Budapest had become one of the world's leading centers for roller flour milling, driven by technological innovations from figures like Ganz and Mechwart as well as large-scale mills powered by steam. 3) However, Budapest's milling industry eventually faced competition from mills in Minneapolis utilizing new

1. I
mentioned in my previous contribution to the
magazine that: “I am spending 5 days in Budapest
exploring, and photographing, the surviving roller
mill sites and buildings in a city which was once
the centre of European roller flour milling.” That
visit was very successful; I did not meet Ganz or
Mechwart because they died, respectively, in 1867
and 1907, but I saw several of the buildings to
which they made important contributions and have
subsequently found map and picture evidence of Budapest’s lead
in developing roller flour milling and influencing the United
Kingdom.
The map extract in Figure 1 shows [Jozsef] Henger Malom,
the first steam-powered roller mill in Budapest which first milled
flour on 15 September 1841. Immediately North West is a later
Mill owned by Karoly [Charles] Haggenmacher the Swiss-born
miller and inventor; this Mill illustrates the fact that by the 1890s
Budapest was one of the world’s leading roller flour milling
centres.
An artist’s impression of the new Jozsef mill which I was
shown in Budapest may not be accurate but gives an impression
of its size, and confirms that the milling machinery was steam-
powered. More relevant to the above quiz question; is that Abram
Ganz, Swiss-born like Haggenmacher joined the Joszef Mill’s
extensive workshops in 1841 so learned something of the flour
milling business in a technologically advanced mill.
By 1844 Ganz had his own foundry in Pesth, the part of what
is now Budapest to the east of the River Danube and began
to manufacture roller mill stands which were advertised, and
adopted in the United Kingdom:
Nineteenth century advertisements, perhaps partly because there
were then many fewer channels of media communication, are
useful sources of additional information for historical research:
• Gustav Adolf Bucholz was a Prussian engineer who set up
an agency in the UK to import and install European rolling
milling machinery
• “Chilled Iron Rollers” were Ganz’s invention which ensured
a true and hard-wearing surface for the rollers in Ganz Roller
Mill frames.
• Andras Mechwart (from the quiz question) was a German-born
engineer who was invited to Hungary by Ganz in 1859 to work
with him and, after the latter’s death in 1867, Mechwart headed
the Ganz factory as Managing Director for 25 years. He was
the co-author of a number of inventions and improvements
to the roller flour milling processes and the reference in the
advertisement is to a patented invention to adjust the nip of the
rolls and reduce friction so save power.
• “Smooth” roller mills were generally for reduction of
middlings and semolina to flour. Ganz also manufactured
“fluted” rolls for breaking the wheat berries in the first stages
of the gradual reduction process.
• The concluding paragraph in the advertisement illustrates the
progress of the roller flour milling revolution where Ganz’s
chilled iron roller mills are “. . . entirely taking the place of
Millstones ...”
Although the bullet points above from the Bucholz & Co
advertisement are all relevant and correct, advertisements may be
suspect as historical research sources because they are product-
focused and unlikely to be objective. Other sources, like the
Proceedings of professional institutions, are generally sound
and in the 19th century the changes in the flour industry which I
have embraced by the term Roller Flour Milling Revolution were
occasioning learned comment:
“it has been erroneously supposed that, the Hungarians, had,
by some imaginary secret processes, been able to eclipse the
corn-millers of all other nations. It may be well to state here
that there are no such secret processes but that the Hungarians
have produced flours still unsurpassed in excellence by skilful
manipulation of their native wheats (which, though yielding
very bad flour when ground by old methods, possess admirable
qualities).
The processes used in Hungary are based on the principle of
Researching and Reporting
Question: Name 6 Hungarians who made significant
international contributions to their country.
Answer: Laszlo Biro; Zsa Zsa Gabor; Abram Ganz; Ferenc
Liszt; Andras Mechwart; Erno Rubik.
Would a contemporary roller flour miller, or a world grain
dealer, have known the names of Abram Ganz and
Andras Mechwart? Perhaps not, because the answers lie
in Hungary
revolution
The roller flour milling
by Rob Shorland-Ball for Milling and Grain
Figure 1: Historical map of Budapest
Figure 3: Royal steam mill - Hedrick & Strauss
Corporation, Budapest
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2. dividing the flour produced from the same wheat into 8 or 10 or
12 different qualities. The fine qualities, which command very
high prices, find their market ... in
certain parts of the United Kingdom.
Now the English miller must
manufacture for local demand; for,
having already incurred the cost of
freight, and carriage on the wheat in
bringing it to his mill (wheat which
he may have to buy in competition
with his foreign competitor), he
cannot afford to pay another freight
on the flour to carry it to a distant
place of consumption where he will
meet again the competition of the
Hungarian or American miller, who
can send flour direct to the same
place and thus incur only one freight
on it (and that freight less than the
wheat freight).”
- from: Proceedings of Institute of
Civil Engineers Vol LXX. 16 May
1882 by William Proctor Baker
(miller)
So back to my researches in
Budapest and the development of
roller flour milling in the city during
the mid nineteenth century:
Like Royal Steam Mill in Figure 3, all Budapest mills operated
on a large scale: they ran on steam, they worked non-stop, and
they conducted business both in domestic and international
markets. Several different economic factors together contributed
to the development and success of this large-scale mill industry:
• Transport developments:
Modernising transportation began
with the Danubian steamships in the
1830s, but the real transformation
was brought about by the rise of
rail transportation, which decreased
shipping time. Since wheat in
Hungary was harvested earlier than
in Western Europe, both Hungarian
(wheat) and flour were able to reach
Western European markets before
the competition. From the 1850s
intensive urban development began
which resulted in the construction
of new roads, wharfs, ports, bridges,
rail yards, warehouses, etc. Budapest
became the main transportation hub
of the country.
• Crop trade developments: The
cities of Pest and Buda (known as
Budapest from 1873) provided an
ideal setting for large-scale mill
production, as the city gradually
became the centre of nationwide
crop trade, which meant that the
mills had a steady supply of grain at all times.
• Capital entrepreneurship: from the 1850s onwards, Pest
merchants, gained increasing prominence and began to form a
capitalised entrepreneurial circle investing in various industrial
Figure 2: Ganz roller mills in a English journal 1879
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5. enterprises. Members of this circle became the primary
investors in the mill industry. By the time of the union of Pest
and Buda (1873), Budapest was already the economic capital
of the country in every aspect.
• Technological innovations: The Budapest steam mill industry
developed ... thrived ... and advanced by the continued
development and implementation of important technological
innovations (such as the work of Ganz and Mechwarts and
the willingness to bring in expertise from Switzerland like
the inventions and roller mill improvements of Hans Caspar
Escher, Salomon von Wyss, Jakob Sulzenberger and Adolf
Buhler. (More quiz names!)
Edited from: The Global Agricultural Crisis and the Steam
Mill Industry of Budapest in the Nineteenth Century: Influence
and Response Judit Klement (Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
Institute of History) 2014
Miller Baker commented on the number of grades of Hungarian
flour which gradual reduction millers could produce.
We know that imported Hungarian flour was popular in the UK
and, with imported Hungarian hard wheat, represented a serious
economic threat to country mills still using millstones and trying
to produce saleable white flour.
However, Hungary was in turn facing powerful competition
from the United States. Mills in and around Minneapolis
intensively increased their grinding capacity from the 1880s
onwards. Key factors in the Minneapolis boom were new
achievements of economic development characterising the years
of peace after the Civil War; crops grown in enormous swathes
of agricultural lands in the west; an efficient rail network which
made the transport of crops from the west and mid-west to the
East Coast possible; and steamboats shipping grains to Europe.
Thanks to US railways and steam boat companies, American
flour producers were able to keep their prices lower than the
Hungarian competition, despite increasing customs duties. Their
favourable pricing also benefited from the fact that production
was nearly fully automatic, which ensured non-stop, large-scale,
production and low production costs. In addition, North American
grain was as hard as its Hungarian counterpart, and was suitable
for producing similarly high-quality flour.
Paragraph above edited from: The Global Agricultural Crisis
and the Steam Mill Industry of Budapest in the Nineteenth
Century: Influence and Response Judit Klement (Hungarian
Academy of Sciences, Institute of History) 2014
Helped by my recent research visit to Budapest I have been able
to witness, and to learn more about, the mid-19th century flour
milling industry in the city.
Ferencvaros is the District of Budapest, south of the centre of the
city and on the low-lying east bank of River Danube where many of
the new steam roller flour mills were built. The area was nicknamed
“The stomach of Budapest.” The first
large mill in Ferencvaros, Concordia, was
built in 1865 in Soroksari Road which
is just in-shore of the railway tracks and
warehouses. As the proximity of the
river made it faster to transport the grain,
and flour, many other mills were built in
Soroksari Road. The second big mill, the
Mill of Millers and Bakers of Budapest
started grinding in 1868. The Gizella and
Kiraly mills were opened in 1880 and the
last one, Hungaria was built in 1893.
As an important complement to the
big mills of Ferencvaros, the largest
warehouse in Budapest, the Elevator
House was built in 1883 and was the most
prominent shore-side building until it was demolished in 1948.
This multi-storey warehouse at Boraros Square was one of
the tallest buildings of the capital. It contained 290 bins with an
overall storage capacity of 36,000 cubic metres. The scoops of the
3 machine-operated paternoster lifts unload 65 tons of grain every
hour from the ships. The grain is weighed by automatic scales then
taken by 10 other paternoster lifts, at the speed of 80-85 tons per
hour, then finally, through tubes it is elevated into the cells.
From railway wagons, the grain is taken to the scales, from there
to the paternosters, which deliver it through the tubes to the cells.
The cells are emptied into sacks through the scales again. The
whole operation is run without human power.
Edited from: Budapest Muszaki Vtmutatoja [The Technical
Guide of Budapest] edited by Illes Aladar Edvi Budapest, 1896,
The Elevator House was damaged by bombing in WWII and
subsequently demolished in 1948 but the mills in Soroksari Road
remain and, apart from Concordia, have been converted into
apartments and offices. Figure 4 is a poster advertisement for
Gizella Malom and Figure 5 is my photograph of the converted
mill taken in 2014.
Concordia, one of the largest remaining mills contains Budapest
Museum of Milling, now closed to the public but still containing
an internationally significant collection of mill machinery and
records in the care of the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture. I
was privileged to visit the collection in Concordia with Andrea
Korosi, Deputy Director of the Museum and Dr. Tibor Sebok,
former Director of the Museum of Milling and from a milling and
mill-engineering family.
Concordia Mill was working between 1866 and 1929 and then
became a warehouse. It was rail-connected and was close to
River Danube and the Elevator House.
Today it has a variety of office and warehouse uses but the
structure is deteriorating so there is concern for the long-term
future of the Museum of Milling collections.
There is much more to tell of Budapest’s roller flour milling
history and although it was relatively short-lived we can learn
from Hungarian experiences in researching the Roller Flour
Milling Revolution in the UK.
Since this is an international journal I would like to conclude by
publicly thanking my hosts and guides in Budapest:
• Zsofia Potsa – General Secretary – Hungarian Grain & Feed
Association [see International Milling Directory]
• Andrea Korosi (Deputy Director), Laszlo Szabo (Curator,
Milling); Gabor Gergely (Curator, Maps & Papers) – Museum
of Hungarian Agriculture
• Tibor Sebok – former Director, Museum of Milling
• Gabor and Judit Zsigsmund – contacts via BKV Zrt
All were welcoming, very patient and very helpful; thank you
again!
Figure 4: Gizella steam mill Budapest, 1920sFigure 5: 2014
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