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The fortune: Dale W. McMillen (1880–1971) bought a Fort Wayne grain elevator in 1916 for $2,000 in cash and an $8,000 mortgage — his obituary in the Decatur Daily Democrat preserves the figures — and built from it the Wayne Feeds business. Wayne Feeds merged into Allied Mills in 1929 with McMillen as the combined company's first president, and on October 2, 1934, he incorporated Central Soya, which grew into one of the country's major soybean processors. He retired in 1953. The business entry is in the Business section.
What it left: McMillen's own statement of purpose, preserved by the Wildcat Baseball League's history, was that "we must pay some rent for the blessings and opportunities we enjoy while we're on this earth" — and the rent is still being collected. The McMillen Foundation donated and helped construct McMillen Park, one of the city's major east-side parks. In 1961 he founded the Wildcat Baseball League, which in 2026 plays its 65th season of free youth baseball. His endowments reached Indiana Tech and the McMillen Health Center. The family's foundation record continues in Part Three.
Sources:
- Decatur Daily Democrat, obituary of Dale W. McMillen (1971) — the 1916 elevator purchase, Allied Mills, Central Soya, the 1953 retirement.
- Wildcat Baseball League history — the 1961 founding, the "pay some rent" maxim, the Indiana Tech and Health Center endowments.
- City of Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation — McMillen Park and the McMillen Foundation's role in building it.