From A Biographical History of Central
Kansas, Vol. II, p. 1157
published by The Lewis Publishing Co, Chicago & New York, 1902
Edward Guldner
One of the leading industries of Rice County is the Frederick Roller Mills, of which Edward Guldner is the proprietor. Every honorable business interest is not only of value to its owner but to the entire community in which it is located, as it promotes commercial activity, which is the basis of all advancement in this utilitarian age. Edward Guldner is the seventh and youngest son in the family of John Guldner, and six of the brothers are well known and reliable business men of central Kansas, where the father also has instituted improvements that have led to the substantial development of the community.
Edward Guldner was born October 31, 1865, in Davenport, Iowa, and was therefore a youth of fourteen years when he came with his parents to Kansas. He had theretofore pursued his education in the schools of his native city, and to the lessons learned therein he added those gained in the school of experience. The family home in Green Garden township. Ellsworth county, was situated in the midst of a wild region, awaiting the awakening touch of civilization to bring it into productiveness. His business training was received in his father’s gristmill and therein he mastered every department of the work, becoming thoroughly familiar with the best processes of converting the grain into breadstuffs. In 1901 the Frederick Roller Mills were erected, at a cost of ten thousand dollars. The plant has a capacity of one hundred barrels per day and flour of superior grade is manufactured. The mill is thirty-six by forty-eight feet in dimensions and four stories in height. The basement is nine feet in height and the walls are of solid rock. The mill is equipped with ten sets of roller burrs and the most modern and improved milling machinery of all descriptions. There are two swinging sifters of a new model, and everything about the place is of such a character as to facilitate the work and produce the highest grade of flour. The engine room is a rock building, thirty-two by thirty-six feet, one story in height, built as an addition to the mill, and the power is furnished by a sixty-five horse power Corliss engine. Frederick is fortunate in having this industry added to it business interests.
On the 11th of January, 1891, Mr. Guldner was married in Vinton, Benton county, Iowa, to Augusta Reiss, who has been a most faithful companion and helpmate to him. A native of Iowa, she was there reared and married. Her father, John Reiss, died in Kansas in 1894, and the mother is still living on a farm in this state. Two children have been born unto our subject and his wife, - Nellie and Edward. In addition to his milling property Edward Guldner owns a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres. In politics he is a republican, and fraternally he is connected with the Masonic lodge of Frederick, in which he has filled all the offices, and with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. Like his brothers, he is a progressive business man, quick to note and improve an opportunity, reliable and trustworthy, energetic and determined. He also has the family characteristic of good citizenship, for the Guldner brothers, like their father, have always been in favor of good roads, good schools and good improvements on their property, and in many ways they have contributed to the general progress. The name is one over which there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil, and one which stands in honorable connection with the pioneer history and the latter-day development of central Kansas.