Our friend Rose Ann Fennessy passed through Aurora, Nebr., recently and stopped to take photos of the Tillotson elevator there.
Aurora was built at 246,070 bushels following the Palmer, Iowa, plan established that same year of 1950. This entailed eight tanks (silos) of 18-foot diameter and rising 120 feet.
There were 22 internal bins and a dust bin.
The cupola (headhouse) was 23 feet wide, 60 feet long, and 40 feet high. Being so tall, the elevator had a leg with pulley centers at 160.5 feet apart, and it could move a lot of grain–7,500 bushels per hour in theoretical capacity, 6,000 bushels per hour when running at 80 percent.
It’s obvious that additional storage has been built since the main house went up.
We thank Rose Ann for the photos.
Our Grandfathers' Grain Elevators 
What a wonderful legacy you’re recording.
We are glad that you’re following the blog. Thanks!
Great looking elevator. I’m sure the annex was built by Tilloston also. A feedmill that has been demolished use to sit to the east of this complex. The newer unpainted annex was built in the mid-70’s by Todd & Sargent.
Thanks for your contribution, Marc.
Does anybody have any information, especially pictures, of a similar grain elevator that stood about 20 miles east in York, NE? I am specifically looking for pictures of the south side, showing the lettering arrangement. Thank you.
On Mon, Feb 3, 2020, 07:10 Our Grandfathers’ Grain Elevators wrote:
> baggyparagraphs posted: ” Our friend Rose Ann Fennessy passed through > Aurora, Nebr., recently and stopped to take photos of the Tillotson > elevator there. Aurora was built at 246,070 bushels following the Palmer, > Iowa, plan established that same year of 1950. This entailed eight” >
Wishing we could help. We have specs on a 336,000-bushel elevator that Tillotson built in York in 1951. If you find any pictures, let us know!
I have looked for the elevator in York and can only conclude that it was demolished at some point. I have had no luck locating it. But perhaps I have looked in the wrong place.
I looked around in the newspaper archives, and found a few items and some newspaper photos. There seems to have been more than one elevator, but if you contact me via email at my blog link, I am happy to send forward what I found.