If you take Highway 14 east past Nixa’s historic Main Street, you’ll pass by a property on the north side of the road that has served the community since the 1950’s.

On this plot of land in the late 1800s, the Stiffler family built a log cabin, one of the first homes in Nixa. The property belonged to the Stifflers’ heirs until 1958, when a prominent Nixa investor, Barney Wisner, purchased it and built a feed mill. Wisner’s mill fostered agricultural growth in the area during subsequent years. The mill’s ownership shifted multiple times; it was eventually acquired by the Deffenderfer family.

Today, the property belongs to Rich and Leah Callahan. When the couple purchased it in 2021, the mill was inoperable, but an elderly man married to a descendent of the Deffenderfers was still working there and selling feed. The Callahans had a vision for the property to serve the community in a wholly different way, however.

“It will be a full-scale bar, 10 restaurants inside, and then community seating in the middle,” said Leah Callahan. “We have over 5,000 square feet of outdoor space that will be filled with artificial turf and cornhole boards, a bocce ball court, and a little stage for live music.”

Americans are very familiar with food courts—bustling spaces, often inside shopping centers, that serve anything foodlike which can conceivably be sent through a deep-fryer and served in a paper trough. Three years ago, the Callahans discovered the food court’s more sophisticated cousin: the food hall, a communal space hosting multiple local food vendors under one roof.

Leah Callahan described a visit that she and her husband made to Mother Road Market in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2020. “The second we walked in we immediately fell in love with the vibe and the concept and knew that this was what we wanted to bring to southwest Missouri,” said Leah. The couple, who describe themselves as “empty-nesters” with many years of business experience, “talked business” for the entirety of their drive home. They got in contact with the strategic ops director of Mother Road Market, who became a mentor to the couple as they began planning for 14 Mill. In their research, they visited food halls in 20 different US cities.

“[The food hall] is a totally unique idea for this part of Missouri,” said Leah. “We had to spend a lot of time showing research and data to our local bank and the SBA [Small Business Administration].” However, the Callahans saw immediate interest from local vendors when they began pitching the idea. Leah said that they already have a line-up of 20 businesses who are interested in serving their food at 14 Mill after their current vendors’ leases expire.

Leah said that she and her husband initially hoped to restore the original feed mill; however, their architectural team quickly found this wasn’t feasible. Instead, they have chosen to build a new facility and preserve as much of the property’s history as they can. “We were able to keep some of the big grain mixers, and we are incorporating those into our architecture,” said Leah. “We were able to build all of the tables for the food hall out of reclaimed oak [from the mill].”

The Callahans have also preserved grain scoops, scales and other artifacts, and hired a photographer to take photos of the mill before it was demolished, which they plan to display inside 14 Mill Market. They were even able to save a piece from the interior of one of the mill’s walls where Barney Wisner’s wife appears to have painted her initials.

14Mill Market will open its doors to the community next month. The Nixa community has thus far received 14 Mill with curiosity and excitement, as it will be the first business of its kind to operate in southwest Missouri. “We intend [14 Mill Market] to be our ministry,” said Leah. “Whatever way God will use us, whether we are ministering to our vendors, to our bar staff or to the community, that is what excites us the most.”

ZOE MCINTYRE

Journalism student at Evangel University. Nixa native.