Mark Hershey bought this farm in the 1930's with the intended use of raising chickens to sell. In 1955 he started grinding his own feed at a savings of 15%. He soon started selling his feed, the business grew and in 1960, he started using soybeans in his feed.

A fairly recent aerial photo of the whole milling complex. The Hershey Farms Mill is only about a mile west of Beck Creek, but since it was initially a dairy farm barn, it has never been water-powered.

In 1966 a fire destroyed his mill; however, he rebuilt the mill and continued operations. In 1987 he put in a bigger Raush roller mill.

A photo from the early 1950's, perhaps even before Mark Hershey started to grind feed, showing the farm layout with the bank barn, later to become the early, main, mill structure.

The old, original farmhouse at the Mark Hershey Farms Mill.

Mr. Hershey died in 1998. The business is still getting bigger today, continuing operations using electricity, and operated by family members.