A 200,000-bushel Tillotson elevator added to the bustle at Boxholm, Iowa in 1955

by baggyparagraphs
Aerial view of a rural landscape featuring grain silos, a water tower, and several structures, with open fields in the background.

By Ronald Ahrens

In the first part of 1955, Bud Lane, manager of the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Co. in Boxholm, Iowa, told Farmers’ Elevator Guide that construction of the concrete elevator would be finished by July 15. It would join a complex of three wood elevators and a mill.

Tillotson Construction Co. of Omaha built the concrete elevator on the same plan used in 1950 at Drummond, Okla.

A black and white aerial view of a small, brick building with several windows, surrounded by sparse vegetation and dirt roads. An old truck is parked nearby, and there are utility poles in the foreground.

Boxholm, a central-Iowa town of Swedish immigrants, was served from 1906 by the Newton and Northwestern Railroad, which later became the Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern. Origins of the grain-storage complex dated back to the early 1900s.

Aerial view of a rural area featuring several buildings, including a large grain elevator, smaller storage structures, and a clear expanse of farmland in the background.
Black and white image of a water tower with an 'M' on it, surrounded by buildings and greenery.

The Boxholm elevator had eight tanks measuring 15.5 feet in diameter and rising to 120 feet in height. All other specs are listed in our earlier post that includes original photos by Kristen.

Frank Nine worked on the Boxholm job and shared these recollections: “Early 1955 we started the job in Boxholm, Iowa, where I met Jim Sheets, and we became friends. I worked the master jacks and run jack crew. Later on, finished cement with Jim–among other jobs as needed. This is where George, Jay, and an old welder, Jesse, became friends.”

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