Demolition Of Old Feed Mill Underway In Berlin

Demolition Of Old Feed Mill Underway In Berlin
Demolition

BERLIN – Demolition of the long defunct feed mill at Perdue’s Berlin facility is currently underway.

The feed mill on Bryan Avenue, which has been closed since 2006, is being torn down, according to Perdue officials.

“We just decided to demolish it before it deteriorated any further,” said Perdue spokesperson Julie DeYoung.

DeYoung said the facility would continue to serve as a grain receiving and storage location for Perdue Agribusiness. Farmers bring their grain there and Perdue distributes it.

“That will continue to operate,” DeYoung said.

The company typically accepts grain there from farmers in a roughly 30 mile radius around the town. From Berlin, Perdue ships the grain to larger facilities or feed mills. DeYoung said the company’s main receiving location was located on Zion Church Road in Salisbury.

Perdue has operated the Bryan Avenue facility since purchasing it in 1979. According to Perdue, the feed mill was first built in the early 1900s. When it burned down in the 1930s, the existing mill was erected.

DeYoung said the company used both the facility’s feed mill and grain storage capacity when it first purchased the site.

“The feed mill was used to produce feed for farms raising our chickens in the area,” she said.

Because of excess capacity at Perdue’s other mills, the small Berlin feed mill was closed in August of 2006. The recent decision to demolish it is simply an effort to clean up the site, DeYoung said. Perdue will continue to receive and store grain at the site.

“We have no plans to change anything there we’re just cleaning up,” she said.

The demolition is expected to be completed by mid-September.

“Hopefully we’re not inconveniencing the community,” DeYoung said. “We wanted to get it taken down before it became a problem.”

About The Author: Charlene Sharpe

Alternative Text

Charlene Sharpe has been with The Dispatch since 2014. A graduate of Stephen Decatur High School and the University of Richmond, she spent seven years with the Delmarva Media Group before joining the team at The Dispatch.