By Ronald Ahrens

Villagers in Churdan, Iowa marveled that the new concrete elevator going up in the spring of 1949 would be even taller than the water tower.

Work on the single-leg 102,000-bushel structure started on Monday, May 23. It was estimated the continuous pour would be finished in two weeks, by Monday June 6.

Tillotson Construction Co. won the contract to build the elevator for Farmers Cooperative Elevator Co. of Churdan. The village in Greene County, located in west-central Iowa, had a population of about 600 people. The venerable co-op dated from 1912, according to available records.

The Churdan Plan consisted of four tanks measuring 14.5 feet in diameter and reaching 100 feet in height. With dimensions of 17 x 34 x 22, the curved cupola would definitively crown the elevator. This element was labeled on two sides with “Farmers Co-Op Elevator” in black letters.

Tillotson used the Churdan plan for at least six additional country elevators between 1949 and 1952

Kristen Cart visited Churdan in 2014 and created a post (link here) with all dimensions and specifications. She noted:

“It is immediately obvious that the old Tillotson structure has been updated at some time in the past with a leg that extends above the headhouse, thereby keeping the machinery most prone to overheating far from accumulations of grain dust.”

A gallery of her photos is seen below.

A Tillotson crew returned in 1955 to build 198,960-bushel storage annex. A follow-up post will include details of this project.

Quad States arrived in 1969 to add another elevator, this one with a stepped headhouse.