Date of foundation: 1868

Founders: B. A. Weiss, József Deutsch, Miksa Brüll, Mór Flesch

Decisive leaders:

Main activity: cereal milling (wheat, groats, bran)

Main products are not set

Seats:

Locations are not set

Main milestones are not set

Author: Róbert Szabó

First Budapest Steam Mill ltd

The history of the steam mills is intertwined with the history of the capital: although the steam mills were established before the unification of Buda, Pest and Óbuda in 1873, their development was influenced by the development of the capital and its economic role. The establishment of the steam mills was made possible by the favourable transport conditions created by the Danube steamships and the agricultural boom in the middle of the century, which resulted from the urbanisation of European cities. Population growth led to a greater demand for grain, which meant that there was also an adequate outlet for it. The succession of steam mills had the advantage of being steam-driven, allowing them to be sited freely, as they did not need water or wind to operate. However, the steam engine required a considerable amount of water to operate the steam mills, which is why they were built close to the Danube.

The so-called "high milling" method, which was widespread in Hungary, was as follows: the grain was first taken from the warehouse to the mill, where it was cleaned of major impurities and the husk in the milling machine. The task of the 'tarar' was to clean the wheat grain before it went to the wheat classifier, which was able to sift out the defective grains. The thresher was responsible for filtering out the kernels and the brushing machine for removing the dust. The last operation before milling was conditioning, during which water equivalent to 2-3% of the weight of the wheat grains was added to the wheat. This was followed by a resting period and then the cleaned wheat was subjected to repeated crushing to obtain a fine flour. To obtain a larger grain size, it was milled into flour using roller mills or roller pairs.

The First Budapest Steam Mill Joint-Stock Company was founded in 1863 by a group of merchants from Pest (B.A. Weiss, József Deutsch, Miksa Brüll, a wholesaler from Pest, Mór Flesch, a produce merchant) under the name of the First Buda Steam Mill Association. The mill was built on a plot of land bounded by today's Balaton Street, Nagy Ignác Street, Stollár Béla Street and Szemere Street. The date of commissioning was 1 December 1866.

The company bought the Berger mill in 1863 and put it into operation in 1864. In 1867, the First Buda-Pest Steam Mill Joint Stock Company sold the former Berger mill in Buda to a company founded by merchants from Pest, the King of Buda Steam Mill Joint Stock Company. The company changed its name to the First Pest-Buda Steam Mill Company in 1865.

In 1876, the First Budapest Steam Mill Joint Stock Company bought its second mill at an auction and equipped it with new equipment and put it into operation in 1877 on the plot of land at 55-59 Zsigmond Street in Buda. This steam mill was set up in 1852 by Frigyes Werther, and after his death the Buda Steam Mill Corporation was founded on his estate. The company was unable to recover from the loss of the mill due to a fire in 1868. It was therefore put up for auction by its main creditor, the Anglo-Hungarian Bank.

In the 1890s, the capacity of the First Budapest Steam Mill Joint Stock Company exceeded 1 million mm and approached 1.4 million mm per year.Since 1895, several mills, including this company, have been owned by the Hungarian Commercial Bank of Pest.

In the first years of the turn of the century, the mill faced similar difficulties to others. The competition from cheap grain from America put the mills in the capital at a considerable disadvantage, and they were also competing with each other. To solve this problem, at least in part, the First Budapest Steam Milling Company proposed the merger of three mills with significant grinding capacity. While the domestic market was experiencing a price rise, the Austrian market was benefiting from cheaper wheat and thus cheaper flour production. The importance of the mill is also reflected in the fact that in 1907 it succeeded in acquiring a stake in the First Galatz Steam Mill Joint Stock Company, which was set up as the Star Mill Joint Stock Company to oversee the mill. This company started operations at the beginning of August 1909. In parallel, continuing difficulties forced the mill to produce four days a week for several months in the early 1910s. In 1913, this was compounded by a fall in the grain harvest and a radical rise in the price of sacks. Profits changed as follows at the turn of the first decade.

The First World War presented the mill with a new situation. The rise in prices, the difficulty of rail and shipping conditions, the need to requisition stocks, the draft and care for surviving family members (allowances, charity, etc.) and the question of how to obtain raw materials caused problems. The distribution of grain was handled by the War Produce Corporation, which allowed the mills to buy grain only twice during the entire war. In addition, the difficulties encountered meant that the War Produce Corporation was often unable to deliver even the small quantities of grain it had undertaken to deliver. In 1915, the Minister of Agriculture also confiscated all the grain production and the Grain Centre was created. However, when the military authorities placed the mill under military control, they obliged it to remain in operation. The price control and requisitioning introduced by the State as a solution enabled the mill to operate profitably. This was compounded by problems such as the burning down of the milling plant of the Elizabeth Steam Mill Company, which was owned by the company, on 19 September 1914.

During the war, the mill and granary in Karczag were purchased from the People's Bank of Karczag. The company established a new joint-stock company to operate it under the name of Tiszavidéki hengermalmi és tárház részvénytársaság (Tiszavidéki hengermalmi és tárház részvénytársaság). In 1916 the interest was expanded by the acquisition of a small mill in Mezőtúr and a steam mill with an electric power plant in Gyoma. At the same time, it also acquired the Váci Hengermalmi Részvénytársaság, the Zombori Hengermalmi Részvénytársaság and the Pancsova Hengermalmi Részvénytársaság. In the same year it absorbed the Pesti Hengermalom Társaság. As a result, the company owned three mills in Budapest in 1920. According to the records, flour exports were also made to Germany, France, England, Brazil, as well as to Asian and African colonies.

Due to the construction of the Great Boulevard, the former Klotild Street mill could not operate after the 1910s. Afterwards, only the offices of the joint-stock company were located here, and the mill moved to 17 Szemere Street. After the demolition of the buildings on the old site, residential buildings were built in 1934.

In the 1920s it became necessary to reduce capacity, so the group carried out a concentration of mills.In 1926 it merged the Pesti Molnár and Sütők Gőz mill joint-stock company, the Erzsébet Gőz mill joint-stock company, the Váci Hengermalom joint-stock company and the Szolnok Tiszavidéki Hengermalom und Tárház joint-stock company. At the time, its interests included the Lujza Steam Mill, the Star Mill Joint Stock Company (Galac), the Zombor Steam Mill Joint Stock Company, the Pančova Steam Mill Joint Stock Company, the Kőrösvidéki Industrial and Trading Joint Stock Company, the Export Milling Joint Stock Company (Versec), the Zenta Rolling Mill and the Banat Rolling Mill (Nagykikinda).

It was one of the few mills that was still in operation during the Second World War. However, the mill suffered serious damage during the war and was demolished shortly afterwards. It was replaced by the KISZ headquarters on Pozsonyi Street between 1977 and 1980, which was demolished in 2018 to make way for a housing estate.

Sources

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First Budapest Steam Mill Joint Stock Company. Online website: http://remlac.hu/angyalfold_htk/13angyalfold_htk__cimekszerint/karpatutca16_18/karpatutca16_18.html. Last accessed on 7 November 2024.

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Ágnes Pogány (2020):Cartel or merger? The strategies of the Budapest mills in the first third of the 20th century. In Network and hierarchy.

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