Our History

Historical Timeline

Let's take a look back in History with a brief timeline of the famous Nixa Mill.

A black and white photo of a group of men and cows in front of a barn.

First Purchase

1839 for 80 acres. Samuel and Nancy Railsback-first bought property from the US government in 1839 for 80 acres as an investment, but never lived on the property

December 1872

Albert Stiffler and wife Leah Nokes bought the property from the McConnell family on 12/24/1872 for $300 and later built a log cabin (located around the present-day monument company) on the land, and probably the first hand-dug well in Nixa which is still on site to this day. Albert’s barn was located on the very site of 14 MM.

A black and white photo of a family posing for a picture

1929

In 1929, the property was divided into 6 parts to all the heirs of Leah and Albert Stiffler (ED Darr, WA Stiffler, Vadie Glidewell, Ella McWilliams, Dora Barber, JF Stiffler). Ultimately, Dora married JP "Pap" Barber, and they purchased the current property, and after Dora passed, JP passed the property on to his son, Theo Barber and his wife Bernice.

A group of people are standing in front of a large building.

March 28th, 1958

On March 28th, 1958, WA "Barney" Wisner purchases the property, marries his wife Louise, and within 6 months constructs the "Wisner Feed Mill", prompting substantial agricultural development in Nixa during the 1950's and 1960's; Barney was an excellent investor and delivered his own feed (he was one of the original investors in the Nixa Bank in 1958); he was known to many locals as a great businessman, and as he got older, he eventually sold the feed mill to the Deffenderfer brothers

September 15th, 1976

On Sept 15, 1976, the Wisner’s sold the mill and property to Rex and Lavada, and Dale and Joyce Deffenderfer, and they renamed the mill "D and D Feed and Farm Supply". Ownership was later sold and transferred to David Atkinson and wife Phyllis in the late 80's who operated the feed store on a daily basis as the feed mill was no longer operational.