Page 8 of the Tillotson Construction Co. record documents the stretch through 1954 when the company participated in the boom for large-scale reinforced-concrete grain-storage buildings, completing eight main-house elevators and eight storage annexes.
The Omaha company led by Reginald O. Tillotson and Mary V. Tillotson produced 3,789,055 bushels of new capacity in this period. Jobs were in five states: Nebraska (1), Kansas (2), Iowa (8), Oklahoma (4), Texas (1).
Here’s the complete list of the sixteen locations: Bellwood, Nebr.; Ensign and Montezuma, Kan.; Dacoma, Orienta, Weatherford, and Lahoma, Okla.; Booker, Tex.; Newell, Iowa Falls, Albert City, Glidden, Manson, Pocahontas, Goldfield, and Rockwell City, Iowa.
Bellwood was the most ambitious storage project. Each of the ten tanks measured 20 feet in diameter and reached 130 feet in height.
The smallest commission was at Newell, Iowa, where the new 150,000-bushel elevator had five tanks measuring sixteen feet in diameter and reaching 120 feet in height.
A similar job left Manson, Iowa with a 152,000-bushel elevator, also with five tanks measuring sixteen feet in diameter and reaching 120 feet.
Bellwood, Nebr. in 2020
Bellwood, Nebr. in 2020
We have visited Bellwood, Pocahontas, and Booker and can share file photos. The dawn photo at the top of this post is from Booker in 2018.
Pocahontas aerial view
A Ford F-500 on the driveway at Dacoma, Okla. Photo by Brad Perry.
Because of the out-of-the-way locations of these country elevators, and because of the secondary importance of storage annexes, little attention or acclaim was given and it’s hard to find documentation in archived newspapers.
Inside the Booker elevatorBooker from the outsideBooker detail
Concerning the Orienta job, the Enid Morning News reported on Jan. 24, 1954:
“Work is progressing rapidly on the 300,000 bushel addition to the Major County Co-op Elevator association’s plant at Orienta, in Major county west of Enid. When [the annex is] completed sometime in March the association will have a storage capacity of 630,000 bushels, according to Ray Fuzzell, veteran manager. The addition is being constructed by the Tillotson Construction Co., of Omaha, on a cost plus basis with limit of $123,000. The association has had an elevator at Orienta since 1917. ‘We just did not have the storage capacity to take care of our local needs,’ Fuzzell said in commenting on the addition. ‘We do not expect to ship in any wheat for storage.'”
The 1954 Oklahoma wheat crop was huge. The Associated Press reported a “spectacular boom” in elevator construction, with “pounding hammers and whirring concrete mixers” as 35 to 40 co-operatives added 9 million bushels of storage capacity. Dacoma was one of seven locations in the state where quarter-million-bushel jobs were underway.
Tillotson Construction was an important constituent in this movement, a leading innovator with its own distinctive architectural style and many characteristic features.
At one of the highest points in Iowa, a Tillotson elevator faced down its peers.
Ocheyedan (pronounced oh-CHEED-an) is today a town of 421 residents in Osceola County, northwest Iowa. It is situated near the Ocheyedan Mound, which rises 170 feet above the surrounding plain.
Robert K. Reiste, publisher of the Ocheyedan Press, once wrote that people thought the Mound was an Indian burial grounds until geologists determined it’s a “kame.” Eskers and kames are somewhat similar glacial deposits. This ancient kame is composed of sand, gravel, and boulders.
“Ocheyedan Mound is one of the most beautiful hills in the northwest part of the state, and its outline can be seen for miles in all directions,” Reiste wrote in 1951. He gave the town’s population as 712 residents and pinned the Mound’s elevation at 1,675 feet above sea level.
Reiste makes no mention that the Mound first got a run for its money the year before his report appeared. Tillotson Construction Co. came to town in 1950 and reached towards the heavens with a single-leg grain elevator rated at 267,413 bushels of capacity.
It was one of three Iowa jobs completed around the same time and using the same plan with eight tanks each measuring 18 feet in diameter. The Ocheyedan variation was to increase the height of the drawform walls from 115 to 120 feet. With a cupola measuring 23 x 60 x 40 feet, the pristine grain house stood pretty much head to head with the Mound a couple of miles away.
Construction work had started early in the summer of 1950. The Globe, of Worthington, Minn., reported the Ocheyedan Co-operative Elevator Association would hold its annual meeting on June 27. Don Edison of the Iowa Farmers Grain Dealers Association was guest speaker. Edison traveled around Iowa for such occasions. In 1951, the Des Moines Register even reported on his goodwill trip to Mexico, where he learned about the work of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers and about the Rockefeller Foundation’s support of President Truman’s “Point Four” foreign-policy program of sharing scientific knowledge, including agricultural practices.
Detail view of Ocheyedan Farmers Co-operative elevator in 1950
The Globe’s report on elevator construction continued:
“Meanwhile, excavation work is proceeding and form building is under way for the new 250,000-bushel concrete elevator now being put up by the co-operative, to be completed in early September. Webb Welty, Pond Creek, Okla., is superintending operations for the Tillotson Construction company, Omaha, contractors.”
Pond Creek was a Tillotson job in 1946, and we surmise that Webb Welty joined the company then. In its Pond Creek news summary, The Medford Patriot Star and Grant County Journal ran the following item on Sept. 26, 1946:
We lack any record of an elevator at Elkhart, Texas, but Tillotson also built at Elkhart, Kan. in 1946.
Back in Ocheyedan, The Globe published a follow-up report on Aug. 8:
“Construction of the eight cylindrical tanks of the new 250,000-bushel concrete elevator of the Farmers Co-operative Elevator company was completed Saturday noon. The crew, directed by Webb Welty, foreman, is now removing the slip form which rode the job from the foundation to the full height of the tanks, 120 feet above grade. Work was carried [out] on a 24-hour daily schedule for approximately two weeks. In the course of another 10 days, work will begin on the head house which will tower another 40 feet above the bins. Manager Ernest Wellhausen of the elevator co-operative said it is expected the plant will be in shape to receive its first grain the latter part of September.”
“I think my Uncle Wade Arend helped build it as a young man,” Karl Arend wrote on the Facebook page Ocheyedan: A Place We Call Home. “Heard stories about the ride up and down on the cable pulleys.”
Hometown newspapers make it easy to follow Wade after his elevator work. With Frederick Glade and William Weaver, he was one of three Ocheyedan lads who attended South Dakota State, and he was in Army ROTC. He became a high school teacher in Lime Springs, Iowa until being called to active duty at Fort Benning, Ga. After service with the Army Engineers, where he was a lieutenant, he returned to Brookings, S.D. for six weeks at the college. Then he went off to Fairbanks, Ak. and taught science at the junior high school level. Receiving a National Science Foundation scholarship for graduate study, he had decided to attend Michigan State University.
We leave off Wade’s story at that point to return to Ocheyedan.
The concrete elevator went up between two wood elevators already standing in Ocheyedan.
The elevator at left in the aerial photo (top of post) wears the co-op’s label. The other elevator, seen at right in the same photo, is labeled E.A. Brown Co. (Inset views of both elevators are embedded in the body of this post.) Edward A. Brown was an entrepreneur who owned dozens of elevators in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Iowa.
Here are some basic specifications of Tillotson’s Ocheyedan elevator:
2,255 cubic yards of reinforced concrete
49.6 cubic yards plain concrete for hoppers
115.34 tons of reinforcing steel
60 x 73.5-foot slab 24 inches thick and 4,101 square feet
13,635 tons gross weight loaded
23 x 60 x 40-foot cupola
pulley centers 165.5 feet apart
120-foot drawform walls
One source says a dedication ceremony was held Oct. 5, 1950, although further details are unavailable. For additional information and construction-progress photos from Ocheyedan, visit the Towns and Nature blog for the post “Ocheyedan, IA: Early Slip Form Grain Elevator with Construction Photos.”
When Harper and Bowers wanted to expand their grain operation in Estill, S.C., they went with Midwestern expertise. Stiles Harper and Grover Bowers were on the cotton side of things upon founding their company in 1947 but branched out in the early 1950s as South Carolina farmers found success with double cropping. Grain followed by soybeans was a development that sent the producers looking for sufficient storage and handling.
To foster this new practice, Harper and Bowers sponsored a soybean-growing contest. The winners for the 1953 crop were a father-son team, R.C. and Bobby Deloach, the boy being a 4-H club member,. They harvested 36 bushels per acre. Deemed a success, the contest was renewed for 1954.
Stiles Harper was an Estill native who attended the University of South Carolina. He was 37 years old when he cofounded Harper and Bowers, Inc. Besides leading efforts in soybean processing by cofounding Southern Soya Corp., he also advocated for pine tree plantations and was named South Carolina Tree Farmer of the Year in 1977.
Grover Bowers, Jr. was a University of South Carolina graduate who fought with the Marines in the Pacific Theater during World War Two, achieving the rank of captain. He served one term in the South Carolina senate and in 1978 received the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor.
Burrell elevator, 1951
The first Harper and Bowers elevator, with 125,000-bushels capacity, was built in 1951 by Thomas L. Burrell, Inc. of Indianapolis. Then the partners commissioned Tillotson Construction Co. of Omaha to put up a 225,000-bushel storage annex in 1952.
The next year, Tillotson was back to build a companion elevator, a 334,000-bushel twin-leg job with a striking curved cupola that added 50 additional feet to the Lowcountry skyline. The expansion enabled Harper and Bowers to accommodate the needs of area farmers, a point that’s elaborated in an article from The Press and Standard on Oct. 15, 1953:
A 1954 news report indicated Harper and Bowers planned a storage annex to join the Tillotson elevator, further increasing capacity at Estill to 1 million bushels.
Kristen visited the location in 2014 and took the pictures seen with post.
Key specifications on the two Tillotson jobs are listed here:
225,000-bushel annex in 1952:
9 tanks measuring 18 feet in diameter and reaching 108.5 feet in height.
Full basement
Upper run measuring 14.0 x 93.0 feet
Belt conveyors, 20-inch belt at bottom and 24-inch belt at top
13 internal bins
1,509 tons of reinforced-concrete, 25 more tons for hoppers
75.27 tons of steel
Slab 50 x 78.5 feet, 21 inches thick
9,582 tons gross weight loaded
334,000-bushel twin-leg elevator in 1953
10 tanks measuring 18 feet in diameter and rising 120 feet
21 bins
2,620 tons of reinforced concrete, 63 more tons for hoppers
Among the still images isolated by Mindi Adkins from an archival home-movie is the selection of on-the job scenes we present in this post.
Mindi’s grandfather, Ben E. Schmidt, worked for Tillotson Construction Co. on thirteen elevator jobs in six states, starting in his hometown of Montezuma, Kan. That was in 1948. Ben and some of his brothers, including Fred Schmidt who operated the movie camera, stayed with the company for a couple of years. We know two of the subsequent destinations were Montevideo, Minn. and Alta, Iowa, as described in previous posts.
Mindi says the movie film is likely from Alta in 1950. Ben’s wife Ruth became pregnant during that job, so they went back to Montezuma to have the baby. In time, the baby, Pearl, grew up and had her own baby, Mindi.
Among the figures appearing in these scenes, Mindi says she’s pretty sure the blue-clad one with his back to the camera in the topmost image is Ben’s brother-in-law Jake Unruh.
Jake Michael Unruh was born in Montezuma, Kan. in 1919. He married Alda Schmidt in 1948. After elevator work, he had a career as a farmer, dairyman, and custom-harvester.
His brother-in-law Ben owned a custom-harvesting operation.
It’s hard to guess the nature of the tasks being done in these images. Suffice it to say everything appears to be well-organized. We note the crew’s rugged garb and the abundance of tools and work stations.
One image includes two late-model General Motors cars–probably Chevrolets. Do they belong to elevator crew members?
Some images show work being done on a frame structure instead of anything to do with the wooden formwork for cylindrical elevator storage tanks. If this work was on an office, mill, or other grain storage building, we don’t see notes in the construction record to describe it.
Even if some imagination is required in reconstituting the activities caught in progress, these rare color images are a valuable resource for their depictions of job layout, tools and methods, and teamwork.
We’re grateful to Mindi for sharing them.
For her part, Mindi says, “I’m hoping someone reading the blog recognizes someone from the video.”
In a tip-of-the-iceberg moment, Our Grandfathers’ Grain Elevators has received a fresh take on the Montevideo, Minn. elevator built in 1949 by Tillotson Construction Co., and it opens a door on the personal lives of crew members.
Mindi Adkins stopped by Montevideo en route from South Dakota and took pictures of the elevator.
“My grandpa Ben Schmidt helped build that elevator and many others,” Mindi explains.
Montevideo happens to be Tillotson’s “cover girl” elevator featured in the January 1950 issue of Farmers Elevator Guide. The story behind the story is that six unions filed a strike notice as the job got going the previous summer. One way or other, work was completed in the autumn and Farmers Equity Elevator Co. dedicated their new grain house on Dec. 30, 1949.
Mindi’s revelation has an additional personal element, as her contribution also includes postcards to her grandparents. One is addressed to them at Watson’s Cabins in Montevideo. The other is general delivery.
Ruth Toews Schmidt was from Montezuma, Kan. (site of another Tillotson elevator). She and Ben E. Schmidt married on May 20, 1945. They soon went to Colorado Springs, where Ben was assigned to a Civilian Public Service camp, serving two years. He came home and worked on Tillotson’s 1948 Montezuma elevator.
“My grandma Ruth told me that when they were building the Montezuma elevator, Ben jumped the gap between the two elevators at the top!” Mindi says. “I wish I knew how many feet it is, but Ruth didn’t approve!”
Afterwards, the couple went on the circuit of elevator jobs.
Mindi elaborates on the question of elevator construction:
“I did get some information from Grandma. She told me all the elevators she remembered that Grandpa worked on–approximately 13 in seven different states. Then several years ago, my grandpa’s brother Lincoln, who also worked on elevators, told me the Tillotson name.”
After working in Montevideo, Ben was part of Tillotson’s crew at Alta, Iowa in 1950. Ruth became pregnant during that time.
“My grandma was weary of moving so much and requested that she go home to Kansas for the baby to be born. So Grandpa took off work, and my mom, Pearl, was born in Montezuma in June 1950.”
Ben E. Schmidt
After their elevator work ended, Ben and Ruth settled in Osceola, S.D. and took up farming. They raised three daughters and one son.
The Daily Plainsman, Dec. 9, 1966
Lore from the elevator years continued to circulate within the Schmidt family. Mindi’s uncle Lincoln told of working on Tillotson’s elevator at Stromsburg, Nebr. and falling in love with a girl who lived there. “He could see from the top of the elevator when she arrived home from work. They did marry and raise a family.”
Ben and Ruth Schmidt left South Dakota for Oklahoma in 1967. Ruth, who loved to sing, worked as a nurse and caregiver. Ben had a custom-combining business. He died in 1997.
Mindi migrated back to South Dakota in the early 1990s. Her grandmother Ruth died in 2016 in Kansas.
The Schmidts represent Tillotson Construction as exemplars of hard work, sacrifice, and resourcefulness. Our Grandfathers’ Grain Elevators is honored to record their achievements.
Story by Ronald Ahrens with photography by Mark Vaughn
Crossing from Utah into Colorado on U.S. 491 leaves a traveler with very little to look at. The landscape is wide open and featureless, giving extra significance to architectural wonders that may be encountered. As he left the Beehive State on this route and approached Dove Creek, Colo., our friend Mark Vaughn found his drifting thoughts interrupted by the stirring sight of a concrete elevator.
Mark Vaughn
Vaughn’s thoughts then turned to his favorite blog, Despite being overcome by mad inspiration, he kept his car on the road while taking a picture through the windshield.
As West Coast editor for Autoweek, keeping cars on the road has been a Vaughn specialty for thirty-seven years. His interest in elevators is a more recent development and redounds to our benefit.
With contoured sides, an overhanging brow, and twin rectangular windows as “eyes,” the bare concrete structure at Dove Creek looks like a tall, broad-shouldered robot. Studying the results of Vaughn’s scouting leaves us marveling at the concave cupola, which is of a rare design.
Who built this elevator? And when? The answer could well be on the cast-iron plate covering the manhole. This plate is seen near the bottom of the left-side tank. We wouldn’t be surprised if embossed lettering names Mayer-Osborn Construction Co., of Denver, as the builder. Mayer-Osborn had incorporated curvature up top into its design vocabulary during the company’s early 1950s heyday.
Alas, Vaughn’s high rate of speed precluded his stopping in order to climb up and read the plate.
Our call to High Country Elevators, Inc., of Dove Creek, has not been returned. Nor has anything turned up in our search of newspaper archives.
Dryland bean production is big in southwestern Colorado, and elevator capacity at Dove Creek is devoted to pinto beans. If indeed this was a Mayer-Osborn job, we can’t say our grandfathers always built grain elevators. Sometimes they built bean elevators.
The Dove Creek Press probably holds answers to our questions, but that newspaper is archived on microfilm at the Colorado Historical Society. Because Vaughn didn’t stop there either, we won’t know anytime soon.
Tillotson Construction Co. completed an elevator at Jackson, Minn., seven miles north of the Iowa state line, and it remains in use. We would like to say more about its history, but too little is clear. The completion photo seen above comes from Tillotson archives. “Jackson, Minn” is scrawled across the back in pencil without a date.
Attempts to access Jackson County Pilot newspaper archives failed.
Additionally, there’s no entry for the Jackson elevator in company records, although there is an entry for 100,000 bushels of storage in 1949. Here’s the link to all specs from that job.
Tillotson elevator at the center in Jackson, Minn. Photo by Brad Perry
Instead of historical details of the elevator’s construction, we offer some perspective about what makes grain storage in Minnesota and the Dakotas a different matter as compared to other Grain Belt states just to the south, namely, Iowa and Nebraska, where concrete elevators abound.
Ronald: Do you have a take on why Tillotson built only a couple of elevators in Minnesota?
Brad: There were, and still are, some old-line construction companies in Minnesota that built a number of elevators in both Minnesota and Iowa.
Ronald: As we go north, concrete seems to lose its advantages.
Brad: Wood elevators were still being built in the 1970s in Minnesota and the Dakotas. I was always told that wood is a much better insulator (Duh!) and maintains grain quality better in cold climates.
Wood elevator complex at Minnesota Lake, Minn. Photo by Brad Perry
Wood elevator at Bricelyn, Minn. Photo by Brad Perry
Brad (continued): All over Minnesota you’ll find 100,000- and even 200,000-bushel wood houses and especially annexes. Concrete in Jackson makes sense—it’s about on the Iowa line. I can still remember a wood house for the Sisseton, S.D. co-op that we financed in 1976 at over $5 per bushel, which was two times the cost of concrete at that time.
Ronald: I went through Sisseton once. It’s near the North Dakota line. That’s as close as I ever came to North Dakota.
Brad: Another reason could also be due to livestock. Other than the southern two tiers of counties, Minnesota producers fed their corn to dairy cattle, hogs, and turkeys so that somewhat less of the collective storage was required. Minnesota is still the number-one state for turkey production.
So boasted George Bacus, Northwest Grain Co. boss, when he announced in June of 1947 that Tillotson Construction Co. was about to start a 99,000-bushel single-leg elevator in Rushville, Nebr.
It would be based on the plan established in 1941 at Sheldon, Iowa with four tanks measuring 14.5 feet in diameter and reaching 100 feet in height.
The tab for this elevator “of the most modern design” would come to $60,000. Details of the financing were not reported.
“We have long felt the need for more storage capacity and are quadrupling the grain facilities here because we want to keep Rushville the most attractive grain market in Sheridan county,” Bacus told the Sheridan County Star.
Other towns–Gordon, Hay Springs, and Clinton–could eat their hearts out.
The Tillotson elevator would rise on the site where the old Wolvington elevator was being torn down. Walter Wolvington, an auctioneer who went into the grain business, first partnered with Lester Davis in the purchase of the Aplan elevator in Rushville. Their next move, reported in the May 15, 1925 issue of The American Elevator and Grain Trade, was to buy the Nye Schneider elevator.
The partnership may have dissolved. After more than two decades, Wolvington sold to Bacus, who since 1939 had managed Farmers Elevator in Hay Springs. A big fire at that facility led him to go into business for himself.
In a display ad of Sept. 27, 1945, Wolvington wrote:
“Having sold my elevator I want to take this means of thanking the people of this community for their business and their loyal support during the twenty-two years I have been in the grain and coal business. Your friendship and your patronage are deeply appreciated. George Bacus, the new owner, is well experienced, friendly, and co-operative and will serve you efficiently and honestly. I will continue in my auctioneer work. See me for dates.”
Combined with the Aplan elevator and Rushville Roller Mills, total capacity in Rushville would increase from 40,000 to 130,000 bushels.
Not only was it the size of the new elevator, but also the speed of operation that impressed everybody. Thanks to the 20-horsepower motor in the cupola, the pace of boxcar loading would rise from 500 to 2,200 bushels per hour.
Construction was expected to take ninety days.
In Part II of this three-part Rushville series, we detailed the important steps in construction, and indeed the work was mostly wrapped up in October. The exception, though, was the electrically operated man lift, which was only installed in February of 1948. The Star’s description is worth repeating:
“The man lift is a miniature electric elevator which will provide transportation from the basement of the elevator to the head house. It will save employees of the local grain company a lot of strenuous climbing as it is necessary to go up to the head house several times a day when grain is being loaded out. The elevator has a small wire cage, about the size of a phone booth and operates exactly like elevators in Omaha department stores. A two horsepower electric motor at the top operates a steel cable which lifts the elevator cage at the rate of ninety feet a minute. The complete trip of 110 feet from basement to headhouse takes just over a minute and is a good deal easier than climbing the iron rung stairs fastened in the side of the elevator shaft.”
The Rushville elevator served Sheridan County farmers for decades. Now, after Kristen’s visit on May 23, we figure the facility is out of service. A couple of calls to Rushville to inquire about the present status produced nothing on the present ownership. But Kristen reports:
“Windows are broken out of the headhouse, and the scale house needs paint and appears unused. Concrete foundations remain after several round bins were removed. It’s hard to tell what they were. The metal sheds and round bins seem to be in use and in good condition. When I was there, the place was deserted, but in May that is to be expected.”
“The foundation is getting bad on it,” Wellnitz said.
After the admiring description of the foundation in Part I, which noted the slab was a foot-and-a-half thick with 97 cubic yards of concrete, it’s hard to believe there’s been degradation. Yet it’s pretty sure the elevator faces its 80th birthday in a state of limbo.
June of 1947 was the wettest on record with more than seven inches of rain across western Nebraska. Hail destroyed an estimated one million acres of winter wheat statewide. Beans and other irrigated crops in the North Platte Valley took a hit. Cornfields were written off, hay spoiled in the fields, and uncut alfalfa became woody.
Even though Chicago and North Western Railway chief dispatcher Louis Remillard had accumulated 70 boxcars for grain on the Chadron-Long Pine division, the Northwest Grain Co. in Rushville found incoming wheat testing above 14 percent moisture content and refused one load after another.
Besides the unusually lush pastures, though, there was a positive effect. At Rushville, the rains softened the ground to the benefit of Tillotson Construction Co. foreman Earl Connors and his crew as foundation work started around July 1.
In blanket coverage for the Sheridan County Star, editor Phil Gottschalk documented the drama of construction foot by foot. Forms started to rise from the ground at 1.00 a.m. on Sept. 5 after a delay in accumulating enough materials. Before long, work had started on the cupola (headhouse).
By Oct. 2, the elevator was promised to be ready soon. Whitewashing started next, and the detailed description of the “dazzling coat of white ‘mix'” is worth noting:
“It couldn’t be called a paint because there is no paint in the concoction which consists of white cement, volcanic ash, salt, and several other chemicals. The mix will waterproof and seal the outside of the elevator as well as improving its general appearance. The coating will get whiter in a few months as the sun and the salt bleach it out.”
Tillotson foreman Earl Connors expected job completion by Oct. 21.
After operations started, the new elevator received praise for storing grain that would otherwise have been kept on the ground.
“Practically all of the 40,000 bushels of grain which were laying on the ground in Sheridan county on October 15 have now been safely stored in farm bins or commercial elevators. The Northwest Grain Company elevator in Rushville was completed in time to absorb nearly all the grain in this area which had been left outside because of a previous lack of storage space. Since the new elevator began taking grain steadily about October 27 over eleven thousand bushels a day have been received for storage. Grain has been arriving at the rate of about a thousand bushels a day, for example on Monday of this week 1,525 bushels were received. Most of this grain is coming from Oglala and Pine Ridge territory as practically all of the Sheridan county grain has already been stored or sold. ‘The elevator holds 100,000 bushels, so we are a long way from being full yet,’ Mr. Bacus said Tuesday. He anticipates quite a rush on grain receipts immediately after the first of the year but believes the new elevator will be able to handle all that comes to Rushville.”
While editor Gottschalk was pleased, the Star’s columnist Mabel Grimes–whose thoughts open the previous Rushville post–had nothing whatsoever to say about the handsome whitewashed elevator. And in 1952, when she went to Chicago and covered the Republican National Convention for the Star, the C&NW budgeted $10,000 for installation of a signal light at the intersection just west of the depot. Frank Cook’s flagging service was no longer needed.
Our third post on Rushville will go into the background of ownership and the transformational nature of the new elevator.
The Chicago and North Western Railway depot in Rushville, Nebr. finally got a fresh coat of paint in the summer of 1947. Paint and painters had been scarce during the war years, and the depot needed attention. Local newspaper columnist Mabel Grimes explained that people thought such an important place of business shouldn’t look so shabby, but a touch-up job had been practically impossible.
“Now, she shines like the morning sun–a lovely bright red!” Grimes wrote in her “Swingin’ up Main Street” column for the Sheridan County Star.
At the same time, there was another forward step, a new sale barn, but it made Grimes worry about traffic at the railroad crossing.
“The hopes of the City Council for a ‘ding-dong’ signal at the crossing have faded—at least temporarily. In its place, Frank Cook sits (or stands) and waves his little red flag! Traffic will undoubtedly increase mightily [with] the Sale Barn and new Elevator across the tracks. And the little red flag might wear out—in time. We do need a loud signal there.”
Cook didn’t have to man the crossing all that often, though, so his flag would have had a long life expectancy. The Cowboy Line of the C&NW carried just a few trains per day on this route to Chadron. Nevertheless, the thought of him in his duster during stormy conditions generates respect.
The elevator in question in the northwestern Nebraska town was the 99,000-bushel single-leg monument then under construction by Tillotson Construction Co.
Foreman Earl Connors oversaw a crew that mixed seasoned Tillotson hands with fresh local talent. As the project got into full swing, the Star noted on July 10 that Leon Lupher, Jr. and his wife had come to Rushville to work on the elevator, and on July 4, their parents arrived to visit from Minatare (home of another Tillotson elevator) and Northport, bringing “well filled” picnic baskets, the contents to be enjoyed in the shade at the park.
In its July 17 edition, the Star noted: “Elevator Goes up Fast.”
“Construction of the new 100,000 bushel elevator is two weeks ahead of schedule, G.A. Bacus, manager of the Northwest Grain Company, said Wednesday. The elevator is ahead of schedule because the construction company found the digging of the basement and boot pit to be much speedier than expected, the ground being soft and easily worked. This week a concrete slab a foot and a half thick was poured to form the basement of the 45 foot square structure. The slab contains 97 cubic yards of concrete—about equivalent to two railroad gondola car loads of concrete. The slab is being made thick because it will bear three thousand tons pressure from the empty elevator and six thousand tons pressure when the elevator is full. This means that there will be a load of nearly three tons to the square foot on the concrete slab base. Approximately 55 tons of reinforcing steel and tremendous amounts of sand, gravel, and cement will be used in completing the 125 foot high structure. Wooden forms for the four large corner bins, each holding 14,000 bushels have been completed ready for installation.”
An editorial in the same issue lauded the backers of the sale barn and elevator.
“Every load of grain or herd of cattle sold in Rushville will enable the Rushville businessman to expand his operations, pay more taxes, contribute more money to community projects, and build Rushville into an even more attractive trade center and place to live.”
We’ve never found stronger testimonials to the fact that an elevator increased not only prosperity but also happiness.
Our next post will document foot by foot the rise of the Rushville elevator.
