Alvin Reist started the business in 1925 in one of the brick buildings built in 1912 by John Balmer Beamesderfer. The name changed from Reist Seed Co. to Reist Popcorn Co. in 2001 and the mural was painted on the building in commemoration. About 200,000 lbs. of popcorn are processed weekly as of the year 2004.

In the early years the Reist were mainly into Seed Corn production and distribution in Lancaster Co. and neighboring counties. The early nearby mill, Mt. Joy Roller Mill / Hackman's Mill / Snyder's Mill was also known as Reist Seed Co. in the two decades following 1925. Photo provided by Reist Popcorn Co.

Alvin started the business in 1925, then purchased this building in 1928 and added the addition in 1944. They purchased the rear brick building in 1967. The main building with the painting on it was remodeled in 1982.

The year 1989 was the last year they grew and cleaned barley and wheat. The Reist building had a fire in 1952 - damages were $40,000. Regarding the 2nd photo: Mr. Reist built seed cleaners on several old trucks, then, the front row of trucks would pull the seed cleaners. See the photo of the old mill above. This way, they could go out to the farm to do the seed cleaning, providing a better service to the farmer.

David Reist, Alvin's grandson and co-owner, gave Mr. Kinsey a short history of the old roller mill that was located at the east end of Main St. at the Little Chickies Creek. The mill was built in 1829 by Abraham & Barbara Hackman. It was used as a mill until 1905, then the New Standard Corp. used the building as a factory for making food choppers and other appliances. The Reist Co. started in the mill from 1925 until 1944.

In 1944, the crops were very, very good and the mill was packed full. The grain was so heavy it collapsed the mill. Mr. Shock, the old mill owner, suied the Reist Co for damaging the building; final setttlement was for $5,000. The Reist Seed Co. had been paying $250.00/year to use the mill for seed corn and grain storage. The mill was torn down soon after its collapse. The mural depicts David's nephew Jesse holding ears of corn while Alvin is on the Fordson tractor.

In 1988, the company began processing popcorn almost eclusively, something they had been doing in the offseason since the mid-1930's. Four types of popcorn kernels are processed: butterfly, mushroom, tiny kernel, and white. Most of the popcorn processed is grown in Ohio and delivered by truck. The kernels go through various stages of processing including: the air screen separator sizes, then they are polished, gravity separated to weed out defective kernels, and optically scanned to separate according to color.