Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star, Sunday, Oct. 8, 1950

AURORA, Neb–Bountiful grain crops here have forced the Aurora Co-Operative Elevator company to expand by adding a new 250,000 bushel elevator.

F.E. Henson, manager of the elevator, points to hybrid corn and the development of deep-well irrigation in Hamilton county as two of the reasons for the demanded extra storage space.

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“We have 225 irrigation wells in this county,” he said. “We handled from 750,000 to 1,000,000 bushels a year.

“This Co-Op has grown steadily over the years,” he added. “It started in 1980 with less than 100 stockholders. Now it has 950.”

The new elevator, near the Burlington station, is an imposing building. It has eight round bins, 18 feet in diameter and 115 feet high. There are 14 other bins.

D.L. Grimes, superintendent for Tillotson Construction company of Omaha, said the elevator is supposed to be ready to receive grain by Oct. 15. But delivery will be accepted the first week of October.

He said he expects to have everything installed within a month. The elevator will cost about $150,000.

Hansen said the company started out in 1908 with a 20,000 bushel elevator called the west Aurora elevator.

In 1913 it built at Murphy, five miles west of Aurora. About a year ago–Sept. 27–the east Murphy elevator of 20,000-bushel capacity burned down. However, Co-Op sill had a 40,000-bushel west Murphy elevator. In the last year it has added 35,000 bushel capacity there.

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In 1913, it constructed the flour mill in Aurora just east of the new concrete elevator. Its daily capacity was 75 barrels, but the big flour mills and chain store buying was too much competition, Hensen says.

So in 1938, the flour mill became a feed mill, with a 10,000-bushel capacity.

“With the growth of the company and competition, we just had to go modern and get an elevator with a drier and cleaner and those things,” Hensen said.

With its new elevator, the Aurora Co-Operative will have a 355,000-bushel capacity for its grain handling business.