Long associated with the flour and grain industry, Benjamin W. Stephenson was a major stakeholder in Mandan's flour mill for 30 years. He was initially involved when it operated as the North Dakota Milling Association, later as Missouri Valley Milling Company, and beyond its merger with the Russell-Miller Milling Company. He retired as its Western Region Manager.
Benjamin W. Stephenson 1909
Benjaman W. Stephenson was born on October 1, 1860 in Galena, Illinois. He was the child of Charles L. and Martha B. (Washburn) Stephenson, who traced their ancestry back to Revolutionary war heroes.. He lived there until July 1878 when he moved with his mother and father to St. Paul Minnesota. His father spent the majority of his life in the government service.
Benjamin W. Stephenson obtained his education in the public schools of his native city and after putting aside his textbooks was employed as clerk in a grocery store for two years. On the expiration of that period he removed to St. Paul, where for several years he was identified with the North Western Fuel Company, after which he occupied a clerical position with a wholesale heavy hardware concern for a few years. Subsequently he was connected with the wholesale dry goods business in St. Paul for two or three years and afterward acted as a railroad clerk until 1893.
In 1893, he entered the flour milling business at Grand Forks, North Dakota working for the North Dakota Milling Association until 1897. He then embarked on his own in a milling venture at Morristown, Minnesota. He returned to fulltime employment with the ND Milling Association the following year as a sales agent in Buffalo, New York. In July, 1898, he returned to went to Mandan, North Dakota, where he remained in charge of a flour mill for eleven years or until 1909, when the company sold out to the Russell-Miller Milling Company and with this change Mr. Stephenson returned to Minnesota. As western manager of the extensive industry conducted by the latter corporation in Minneapolis he has won and maintained an enviable reputation for executive ability of a high order and has materially promoted the interests of the mammoth concern which he represents.
In 1909 Mr. Stephenson was united in marriage to Mrs. Margaret Artz. He gives his political support to the republican party and is an active member of the Civic & Commerce Association; has been treasurer of the Washburn Memorial Orphan Asylum since 1911; and his religious faith is indicated in his connection with the Church of the Redeemer.
His appreciation for the social amenities of life is manifest in his identification with the Minneapolis, Athletic, Interlachen, Lafayette and Automobile Clubs.
He remained life long friends with his business associate Hiram Lyon. Both men and their wives retireded to the Pasadena, California area.
Stephenson died on January 27, 1925 in Pasadena. His wife Margaret died April 13, 1950 also in Pasadena. Both are buried the family cript in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The MHSoc's museum and office is located at 3102 37th St; PO Box 1001; Mandan, ND 58554 Contact us at info@mandanhistory.org or leave message at (701) 663-5200
