Hutchinson, KS: ADM, Cargill and Misc Grain Elevators

Hutchinson had (and has) salt mines. Maybe that attracted the railroads. At any rate, the town was served by three railroads: Santa Fe, Rock Island, and Missouri Pacific. That, in turn, attracted huge terminal grain elevators. The town has six of them, including the worlds largest. Four of them are now owned by ADM and two by Cargill. (Cargill also has a salt handling facility. I have also found Morton Salt and Hutchinson Salt.)

C: Adm Grain A/Collingwood: (Satellite)
P: Cell Phone Tower: (Satellite)
FB: Adm Grain/Far-Mar-Co B: (Satellite)
S: Adm Grain/Security: (Satellite)
N: Central Prairie Co-op: (Satellite)
G: Cargill/Bunge/Gano: (Satellite)
J: Cargill/Continental/Jennings: (Satellite)
B: Abandoned/Salina/Grain Belt Terminal: (Satellite)
W: Abandoned/Western Terminal Eleavtor (Satellite)
FA: Adm I/Far-Mar-Co A: (Satellite)
L: Irsik & Doll Feed/Larabee Flour Mill: (Satellite)
K: Irsik & Doll Feed/Kelly Mill: (Satellite)
H: Abandoned/Hutchinson: (Satellite)
Off the map:
X: Abandoned/Potters: (Satellite, it was on the south part of this parking lot)

Satellite

Jerry Krug posted six photos with the comment: "Cade Smith's fine shot of the skyline at Hutchinson, KS posted on December 23 is a reminder to me to make sure I notice and shoot the forest, not just the individual trees. I took all of these elevator shots in Hutchinson on June 25, 2016, but none portray the city as clearly as Cade's." I added street views for the elevators that Jerry did not photograph, and I changed the order to be from north to south.

Streeet View
Adm Grain Elev. A/Collingwood

Street View
Cell Phone Tower/Davidson

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Adm Grain/Far-Mar-Co B (It was the longest and is still the biggest.)
[Street View confirmation]

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Adm Grain/Security
[Street View confirmation]

Bob Summers posted
Central Prairie Co-op/Nickerson Co-op
View of a mid '50's slip form working house by Chalmers & Borton and accompanying feedmill, both state of the art at the time. Looks like an outside receiving pit and leg to accommodate the larger trucks has been added. Located in Hutchinson Kansas, this is a former branch of the Nickerson Co-op and now a branch of the merged Central Prairie Co-op headquartered in Sterling Kansas.
Dennis DeBruler This gets my count of known Hutchinson elevators up to an even dozen.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
Bob Summers That is my count, Dennis DeBruler. There is also one more I have posted in South Hutchinson. Two of these I posted twice from different angles to show different features. We had another terminal here which was razed several years ago that I am still trying to find a good picture to post.

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Cargill/Bunge/Gano
[Street View confirmation, the dryer has been added.]

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Cargill/Continental/Jennings
[Street View confirmation]

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Adm I/Far-Mar-Co A
[Street View confirmation]

Street View
Irsik & Doll Feed/Larabee Flour Mill

Evidently, this old mill is now also operated as a grain elevator by Irsik & doll.

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Irsik & Doll Feed/Kelly Mill

Street View
Abandoned/Hutchinson (First concrete elevator in town, built 1913)

Spring Creek Model Trains posted several photos of the towns elevators.

Adm Grain/Far-Mar-Co B

Matthew Vickinovac posted four photos with the comment: "03/09/2014 I was advised that this is the longest grain elevator in the world."
Dean Taton Bicycles in the galley way up top.

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The Sep 2020 version of Google's software won't insert the photo here, so you will have to click the link to see a view looking west along the north side.

John Blankenship posted two pictures with the comment: "ADM elevator in Hutchinson Kansas. At one time was the longest in the world."

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What hurt my head is that when I looked at the satellite image, since I follow the railroad tracks when looking for an elevator, I found ADM and Cargill elevators that were large, but they are not the big one! It looks like it can load hoppers on each side.

Michael C. Blankenship The movie "Picnic" was filmed in the area. Here is a site with a bunch of still photos from the movie our around the elevators, including the one in your photo (although shorter at the time). It is noted as "C" in red on the aerial photo.

Bob Summers posted two photos with the comment:

The former Farmers' Commission Company (Far-Mar-Co, Union Equity, Farmland Industries) Terminal Elevator "B" in Hutchinson Kansas. The "hex bin" design has an interesting story behind it. The story as I recall was that the regional cooperative based in Enid Oklahoma was planning a major new terminal elevator in the early '50's and trying to come up with a new elevator design that would have all of the bins be the same size. The traditional round bin design has smaller bins in the voids between the silos called "interstices" and they wanted to avoid that. One day one of the managers was in the restroom pondering a solution when he noticed the hexagon shaped tiles on the floor common in older office buildings built back in the day. They took the idea to their builder, Chalmbers & Borton, who then put their engineers to work on the concept. This elevator was initially built in about 1953 or 1954, with additions onto each end about 1956 to the approximately one half mile length, reputed to be the longest concrete grain elevator under one headhouse in the world. Another interesting feature of very long elevators like this is they have what we referred to as "round the world" conveyor belts, that carries the grain on the top of the bins to the bins, then goes empty down the end of the bins so it can carry grain back to the headhouse in the basement. This facility is now operated by ADM.

Matthew Clare How many unit trains can this place load when all its silos are full? Must be quite a few.
Bob Summers I think the capacity of this elevator is about 17.5 million bushels. A unit train of 120 cars would be about 400,000 bushels.
Bob Summers ADM has 4 terminal elevators in Hutchinson with over 25 million bushels plus the ground piles at their North elevator.
Bob Summers ADM left Hutchinson in the mid '60's when they closed the Commander-Larabee Flour Mill until they acquired Collingwood Grain in the late '80's as I recall. Later ADM acquired the 2 former Far-Mar-Co terminal elevators here in Hutchinson Kansas.

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Michael C. Blankenship commented on Bob's post
This is a shot from the movie "Picnic" shot May 21-22, 1955 prior to the additions to the ends. Photo info: "ADM Grain Elevator Building, 1 North Halstead Street, Hutchinson, KS; This elevator was filmed from the top of the Security Grain Elevator (Now called ADM Grain), 2503 East 4th Avenue, Hutchinson, KS: (corner of N Halstead st and E 4th Ave)"
Michael C. Blankenship More Hutchinson elevator shots from the movie: http://www.georgeduning.com/.../Hutchinson--Picnic...
Bob Summers Yes good picture. The smoke is from a fertilizer plant, long gone. I remember working the truck scales during harvest hearing the "hammers" on the drying drum that kept the fertilizer from caking on the inside of the drums. Before Continental bought the Jennings Elevator local farmers could only deliver to Security's Elevator "B" (an old iron clad wood elevator and feed mill - also long gone) at 4th and Halstead, or the local co-op on the west side of Hutchinson. In fact, before we put in the north pit to handle hopper cars in about 1962 or '63 we had to load boxcars at Elevator "B" and get a switch engine to set them at the terminal to unload the grain into our Elevator "A." The advent of grain hopper cars and the terminal elevators retrofitting to be able to unload them changed many aspects regarding how grain was handled at the elevators. I think Irsik & Doll handles grain direct from the farmers at the old mill elevators now.

John provided a couple more links about the elevator: Center for Land Use and Card Cow. Length isn't everything. Even though it is "just" the second longest, it is the worlds largest at 17 million bushels.

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

Others have posted this half mile long elevator in Hutchinson Kansas, but I was unable to find one from me so thought I would post views from both ends. This is a great example of Chalmbers & Borton's very successful "hex bin" design featuring all of the bins (except the very end ones on each section) being the same size. The initial build was for Farmers Commission Company in the mid early '50's and designated their "Elevator B" here in Hutchinson. Identical extensions, seen here as brighter white paint, were built in about 1956. Several features are worth pointing out. This terminal has sidings and unloading pits on both sides. In the pre hopper car days the boxcar dumpers were very important. This elevator features dual "around the world" conveyor belts that carry the grain on top from the headhouse to fill the bins, then runs down the end of the elevator to carry grain back in the basement to the headhouse from the bins. The elevator actually has a full basement under the bins instead of tunnels. In the early '60's Farmers Commission Company merged with two other regional grain marketing cooperatives to form Far-Mar-Co. (Regional grain marketing cooperatives were owned by the local member co-ops in the trade area.) As I recall about 1980 Far-Mar-Co merged with another large regional grain marketing cooperative, Union Equity, based in Enid Oklahoma. Both were very significant entities in the grain handling industry here in the southern half of the great plains. Then along came a period of "merger mania" and another regional cooperative, Farmland Industries, that was in the business of supplying products such as feed, fertilizer and fuel to the farmers, took over. Supply of products used by farmers, and marketing the products produced by farmers are totally different - and it took just a few years for it to fail. Eventually many of the grain handling former co-op assets were acquired by ADM, a very successful player in the grain handling and merchandising industry. This elevator is now designated as ADM Elevator "J" here in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Daniel Mayer What’s storage capacity?
Christopher Scholl 21,600,0000

David Budka As I understand it, Farmland was the victim of its own success. It sounded as if the powers that be decided to take it apart! I think Farmland started out with a small pipeline refinery in western Nebraska. I am saying this from memory of materials I have read.

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JB The Milker, Jun 2013
This is the biggest grain elevator in the entire world.

Karl Rethwisch posted
An ADM facility in Hutchinson, KS. 2018.
[The comments describe that the new part looks like triangles instead of circles because the silos are hexagonal.]
Marc Mcclure Hexagonal bins. Originally built for Union Equity Grain of Enid. E.N. Puckett the General Manager of Union Equity recognized the pattern on his barber's floor and asked Chalmers and Borton to engineer a design to better utilize space in the elevator.

Rick Hitchcock posted two photos with the comment: "This big elevator is in Hutchinson KS along a rail line, parallel to 11th and it is south at Halstead Street. It is almost too big to do it justice. I dare to guess it is nearly a half-mile long."
Michael C. Blankenship http://www.clui.org/.../9-second-longest-grain-elevator...
Mike Baron If you've never seen it, catch the 1955 classic movie "Picnic". There's more to see than Kim Novak, with many shots of the Hutchinson grain elevators along with UP and MP freight trains.
Michael C. Blankenship Here's a little about what Mike Baron is talking about: http://www.georgeduning.com/.../Hutchinson--Picnic...
Great shots of elevators in Salina at the start also.

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Larry Carver commented on his post
Bob Summers Larry Carver From the shadow looks like your drone was almost at the former Security Elevator headhouse to be able to see the entire half mile long elevator. The brighter white sections on both ends are when they added on in the mid '50's shortly after the movie "Picnic" was filmed. Nice shot!

Kristina Camarero posted
The Farmers Co-Op Commission elevator. World's largest grain elevator, located in Hutchinson, Kansas. Built in 1961.
Bob Summers shared

Bob commented on his share
Actually original 10 million bushel elevator built in 1953, with additional 8 million added in 1958. Not the largest, or even the longest. That was the Garvey complex south of the Wichita airport.

Jerry Wilbeck: Bob Summers 50 ft longer

Bob Summers: Jerry Wilbeck after it was shortened about 60’ after the explosion.

Bob Summers posted five photos with the comment:

Farmers Cooperative Commission Company was among the earliest members of the Hutchinson Board of Trade but did not build their terminal here until 1936. The first photo shows the initial phase, a 700,000 bushel slipform concrete elevator built by Chalmers & Borton. Regional grain marketing cooperatives were owned by the individual local cooperatives in the region. In 1939 they built the first annex, seen to the right of the headhouse in the second photo, doubling the capacity of their terminal elevator. Another addition increased their capacity to about 2.5 million bushels before they added another million bushels capacity in 1942. In 1949 they added the 2 million bushel "parallel" annex for a total capacity of this facility of 5,500,000 bushels - the largest terminal elevator in Hutchinson at the time. In the 1960's Farmers Cooperative Commission Company merged with other regional grain marketing cooperatives to form Far-Mar-Co. This terminal was then known as "Farmer's A." Now it is an ADM facility, known as elevator "I." ADM added the large corrugated steel bin. The location is just north of the BNSF railroad on the west side of Halstead Street.

Christopher Scholl Another one of my homes.
Bob Summers "B" is the oldest at 100 years for the initial phase, and smallest. Does ADM use it primarily for lower volume commodities?
Christopher Scholl Bob SummersSummers.yes,lower volume and grade.she has seen better days,but if ya talk nice to her,she still runs.

Brett Britt Bob Summers is Far-Mar-Co still in existence?
Bob Summers No. Lost track of time, but some 20 or 25 years ago Far-Mar-Co, based in Hutchinson Kansas and owned by local co-ops primarily in Kansas, Nebraska and eastern Colorado merged with their counterpart, Union Equity, based in Enid Oklahoma. Not long after Farmland Industries, a major Cooperative, again owned by the local co-ops, that specialized in supplies used by farmers, such as fuel, lubricants, fertilizer and feed took over the commodity marketing regional cooperatives. Farmland did not understand that furnishing supplies and marketing Farmers production commodities are totally different businesses and it failed big time. ADM ended up with many of their grain handling facilities in our region.

Bob Summers shared

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The industrial spur that goes along three elevators connects to two different mainline. The east/west line was Santa Fe so it should be BNSF now. The north/south one was Rock Island. It does appear that Union Pacific bought that part of the Rock Island so that it can haul grain to its existing route through Topeka, KS. The MoPac line that used to go from Witchita to Hutchinson has been abandoned.

Union Pacific Map

Cargill/Bunge/Gano

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

Gano Grain was one of the first "linehouse" operations headquartered in Hutchinson to sell when in 1949 they sold to Bunge Corp. We refer to a grain firm with a number of country elevators and a terminal elevator as a "linehouse." Bunge, an international firm and a major exporter, continued to operate this acquisition as "Gano Grain Division" until it was sold to Cargill in the late 1980's as I recall. Pictured are three views of this Terminal Elevator in Hutchinson, Kansas.

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Karl Rethwisch posted
Hutchinson, KS., 02-28-2018.
Christopher Scholl Ya notice they put up a new grain dryer a couple years back.
Bob Summers Yes, cannot see in this shot of Cargill's elevator here as it is on the north end, the left end from this angle. Likely they are handling grain sorghum (milo) or corn here.
Dennis DeBruler ADM Grain is in the background on both the left and right sides.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

Larry Carver posted
This is a Cargill elevator. The former Gano Grain Division of Bunge terminal on the SE corner of 4th & Halstead in Hutchinson Kansas (post correct)
Bob Summers If you are in Hutchinson Rich Reed go by the Hutchinson Art Center and you will find some of my friend Larry Carver's excellent photos! His photos by drone and regular are fantastic.

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

This elevator in Hutchinson Kansas has been posted recently, but not from these views. The second photo shows a recently installed grain drier that was mentioned, but not shown, in a post last week. The other views, also from what many would consider the back side, clearly show that the former Gano Grain Terminal has a fairly unusual "T" shape. Bunge Corp bought Gano Grain in about 1947 and operated this terminal and their Kansas country elevators as Gano Grain Division of Bunge Corporation until it was purchased by Cargill some 20 years ago.

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Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:

Gano Grain Corporation built the initial phase of this terminal elevator in Hutchinson Kansas in 1930. The builder was J.T. McDowell Construction, based in Denver Colorado. George Gano originally came to Hutchinson as a partner in the Rock Mill & Elevator Company when they built a large wooden terminal downtown in 1904. He purchased the interests of J.R. Baker in 1919 and in 1923 the wooden terminal was destroyed by fire. In 1924 the Rock Mill & Elevator Company (they never built a flour mill) was renamed the Geo. E. Gano Grain Company. George Gano sold his company to Bunge Corporation in 1949 and it was operated as Gano Grain Corporation Division of Bunge. In 1950 Bunge added the east annex that forms the "T" and Chalmers & Borton was the contractor. Bunge Corporation sold their elevators in the hard red winter wheat region in the 1990's I believe, to Cargill, which continues to operate this terminal. This elevator is located east of Halstead street and south of 4th Avenue on the interconnector line between the Santa Fe and Rock Island rail yards.

Jim Hufford Worked at this elevator for a while , supers name was Herb Woodlegy or close to that , and worked on it after the grain explosion , lucky blast it happened at night . No one injured ! Once for the grain Inspection me and one of the summer help were on the westside sampling hoppers and that idiot got on the ground and was throwing a metal grain door strap up in the air , it came down on the power lines , big sparks, you could hear elevators all over going down . That feed line fed the east side ! Big Big mess ! Needless to say he lost his job , all lot of elevator employees wanted to kill him ,they had to scoop all the legs out ! Lol
Bob Summers When was the explosion?
Jim Hufford Bob Summers can't remember the date , it took the scale room out and damaged most of the top floors of the head house, along with some tank damage ! You could see light thru one side to the other . It came in two booms at night first a small one then a large one , that's kinda how some dust explosions work , first one shakes up the grain dust and the second blows things apart , Bob I'm no longer sure whitch one was first I believe it was Bunge then Garvy but just no longer sure ! I quit the Inspection before the explosions and went to work for Bortons ,
Stephen Noyes Harold Ewy I remember taking a 100 cars north past that elevator on the mid nite shift with Tommy Thomas and grouchy Bennett in the summer rush... Eldon Thomas coming by at 3 am on the 304 headed for Dodge, and seeing Bennett pick up the radio and screaming 'Wooden Axle Railroaders!". Those were the days.

Bob Summers shared with the comment: "George Gano operated a large number of country elevators or "linehouses" in South central and western Kansas. A few of the older iron clad wood elevators survive and occasionally are posted in this group."

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Adm Grain/Security

Bob Summers posted five images with the comment:

The initial phase of the Security Elevator Terminal in Hutchinson Kansas was in 1918. The Security Elevator Company resulted from merging The Hutchinson Terminal Elevator Company and their southwestern Kansas area country locations when the success of locating in the nearest city on the three major railroads (Santa Fe, Rock Island, and Missouri Pacific) serving the hard red winter wheat production area in southwestern Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle in order to be able to market the wheat to a large number of flour mills in the region. The initial structure had a capacity of 250,000 bushels and was designed as a "merchandising house" able to clean wheat and blend to individual flour mill customers' specifications. Three additions were built in the 1920's and the final addition in 1949. The facility is now owned by ADM and is still in operation

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Bob Summers posted
The Security Elevator Co in Hutchinson Kansas in the early '50's after the iron clad Elevator "B" had a feed mill added and the retail Feed & Farm Store was built. The concrete Terminal elevator "A" was the site for the grain elevator scenes in 1955 when the movie "Picnic" was filmed (staring William Holden, Roslyn Russell and introducing Kim Knovak). They used this elevator because it had a large "freight elevator" big enough to carry the large cameras, sound and lighting equipment of the day. This elevator was so equipped to service the grain cleaning equipment needed to makes mill mixes for flour milling customers.

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Charlott Summers commented on Bob's post
I found some more images of this elevator in the early days. The first addition was built in the early 1920's, and the 2nd addition shown nearing completion in the upper right photo in about 1928.

Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:

Recent [2019] new views of the former Security Elevator Terminal (now ADM) in Hutchinson Kansas. The original part of the elevator, headhouse and west tanks were built 100 years ago and still in use. The third photo has rail road tracks in the foreground which was the original connector line between the former Rock Island and the Santa Fe, enabling elevators located here to be switched by both. Later Gano Grain (now Cargill) and Farmers Commission Co. Elevator "B" (the one half mile long elevator now also ADM) were built on this connector line. Note in the last photo both the old iron clad Security Elevator "B" and the feedstore building have been torn down.

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Bob Summers posted two photos with the comment:

No doubt this will be more information than most group members are interested in, but hopefully those interested in slip form concrete elevators will have some interest. The first photo taken in the spring of 1920 shows the square working house of the Security Elevator Terminal in Hutchinson Kansas, which was completed for the 1919 fall grain movement with approximately 100,000 bushel capacity. Then you can see the round bin addition providing another 400,000 bushels in capacity for the 1920 harvest. In the working house the bins are in the lower area and above the bins would be the elevator leg heads, distribitors, scales with garner (surge) bins above and below the scales and some grain cleaning equipment. The second photo is the elevator as it is in 2019. You will notice that the first annex to the left of the working house (headhouse) structure has fully round bins, as does the far left portion. These will be round bins with what we call interstices bins in the voids. The middle group of bins to the left, and all the bins to the right, appear different. In the times when terminal elevators were primarily for mixing and blending grain for "mill mixes" for our flour mill customers, it was desired to have more smaller capacity bins, so the round bins would be spaced so that bell shaped bins would be between the round bins. A close look at many of the older slip form terminals built in the '20's and '30's will find this configuration. Perhaps there also were some engineering considerations for the builders, but from the operations perspective it was very useful. The new elevators with free standing round bins cannot blend grain for mill mixes the same way we did back in the day. This is an ADM facility now.

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[This is a duplicate, see above.]

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Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

Security Elevator "B" in Hutchinson Kansas 1st photo about 1940, 2nd photo shows was on the site when the terminal was being built about 1920, 3rd photo about 1950 after the feed mill was added. Was razed about 2010 as I recall.

[The old elevator's land is now occupied by this storage building.]

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Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:

Security Elevator "B" and some historical review of grain handling in Kansas in the early days. An article in the Hutchinson paper in 1878 mentioned the reporter saw 13 wagons waiting to unload at one elevator, and the others in town were likewise busy. The first photo, while not taken in Hutchinson, would illustrate what it would be like at grain elevators during harvest in those days. Another article in 1887 said there were four elevators here; Kansas Grain on the Santa Fe, Bontz Elevator on the Missouri Pacific, and Rock Island Elevator on the Rock Island. I believe the 4th was probably the old iron clad in the second picture which appears to have been there for a long time before the concrete terminal elevator under construction next door was built in 1919. This location was on the inter-connector rail line between the Rock Island and Santa Fe railroads about three miles east of downtown. L.H. Pettit Grain acquired the site, then sold some of the acreage to Security for the concrete terminal elevator to be built. Pettit retained the old iron clad wood elevator, likely because a terminal elevator at that time would only handle grain by rail and would have no use for a small country elevator on site. A few years later Pettit sold the iron clad wooden elevator to Moore Grain, which later became Collingwood-Moore Grain. Security bought that elevator from Collingwood in 1928 to get the ground to enlarge the terminal. The third photo shows the elevator after it was acquired by Security. Due to the other three elevators mentioned in the early 1887 news article being destroyed by fires, as were several others that were built later, I believe it to be the oldest elevator in Hutchinson when Security added the feed mill and warehouse as shown in the last aerial view, taken @ 1950. The old timer was razed about 50 years later after ADM acquired Collingwood Grain.

Bob Summers shared
Michael R Morris Any idea of the town in the 1st photo?
Bob Summers Security Elevator at Guymon Oklahoma about 1915.

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Bob Summers posted
The Security Elevator Company's Terminal Elevator "A" in Hutchinson Kansas in 1949 as the last annex is finished. This annex was the only one built by Chalmbers & Borton, one of the country's premier concrete grain elevator construction firms, based here in Hutchinson. The initial build and earlier additions pre date Chalmbers & Borton. This addition brought the capacity of this elevator to approximately 2 million bushels.

Bob Summers posted
Security Elevator Co terminal elevator "A" in Hutchinson Kansas in this photo taken in 1947 shows the 3rd annex on the left, built pre WWII - probably in the mid 1930's. The combine of the era is interesting. Note the refinery in photos taken in the late '20's is no longer there.

Bob Summers posted
For those that enjoy a little more information on grain elevators here is more on the Security Elevator Terminal "A" in Hutchinson Kansas. In the last photo, the aerial shot taken in the early 1950's, you will not see the metal structure at the right lower edge of this photo. When the railroads introduced hopper cars for grain any existing elevators could only unload grain from boxcars that had to have the grain come out through the door on the side of the boxcar, usually by men operating power shovels. To unload hoppers the elevators had to be retrofitted so the grain coming out the bottom of the hopper cars would go onto a conveyor which would take the grain into the elevator proper. In this picture you can see the hopper receiving pit we added in the early 1960's. An additional benefit is we could now also unload truck grain into the terminal when we were not unloading rail cars. Before that all of the trucks had to be unloaded in the small iron clad Elevator "B" next door, loaded into a boxcar, switched by the railroad and then unloaded into the terminal. Most of us "old timers" active in grain elevator operations in the 1960's view the introduction of grain hopper cars by the railroads in the early 1960's to be the single most significant change to the Industry. Hope this is not too much "inside baseball" type information to be of interest.

Bob Summers posted seven photos with the comment:

I found these photos from when the last addition was built on the Security Elevator Terminal in 1949 in case some group members are curious about how slip form concrete grain elevators were built. First a bin from 80 to 130 foot in height filled with grain is quite heavy, so the foundation and footings are very important. Also to remove the grain from the bins a tunnel under the bins with the conveying machinery is needed. The 2nd photo shows more of the foundation and forms for the top of the tunnel with the spouting for the grain to go from bin to the conveyor in the tunnel. The 3rd photo shows the carpenters building the forms for the bins. The 4th photo shows the slip forms early in the process of pouring the concrete bins, which in a slip form build goes 24/7 until the bins reach their desired height. Then the bin tops are formed allowing for the openings so the grain can be put into the bins. Next the gallery is formed, and finally the conveyor is installed. For those that were wondering, hope this gives a little insight.

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Bob Summers posted
A look at "slip form" concrete grain elevator construction. The picture shows carpenters nearing completion building the forms for an annex built in 1949. In this case the round bins are adjoining one direction and spaced the other direction to form smaller "interstice" bins between the larger round bins. A close look at this photo shows two type of interstice bins. On the left is what we called a "star bin" and another larger, more rectangular shape between the round bins is adjacent just to its right. This provided a variety of sizes of grain bins enabling better blending of grain primarily to make "mill mixes" for our flour milling customers. The variations are limited only by the engineer's imagination in how to achieve the operator's needs. Once the pour commences it will continue 24/7 until the entire height of the bins is attained, providing a seamless structure. This added to cost requiring more than one crew as well obtaining concrete around the clock from a ready mix company if available locally, or another crew running a concrete batch mix plant if the elevator was being built at a remote site with no ready mix company nearby, contributing to quality control issue as well as increased cost.
Jack Daw Does the seamless structure from slip form construction provide any advantage over jump form construction that would justify the added cost? Or is jump form construction a step forward in every way?
Bob Summers Variety of bin sizes was very important. Say the elevator received 2 boxcars (4,000 bushels) of 14% protein wheat, we would not want to tie up a 20,000 bushel bin with the small amount, so having a smaller bin to put it was important. When handling a high volume of grain, say a harvest, the elevator superintendent may have 4 or 5 similiar situations with grain that was different than "typical" to deal with. Now almost all concrete elevators, in our area, at least, are jump form as are less expensive, and the need to seperate the grain at so many quality variations is less important. They do put in a seal at each level to prevent moisture from going thru the bin wall at the pour levels.
Wes Garcia If a new one were to made today, would the slip form be used or is there a newer way of doing that now?
Bob Summers Wes Garcia lots of concrete elevators being built in our area, virtually all are jump form as you can see in my posts. I have seen only 2 or 3 slip forms built as the initial phase of a train loading facility, perhaps to provide a few small bins in the complex, but all addditions to my knowledge have been jump form. Likely the forms are built about the same way, but would think the mechanisms to raise the forms have been refined over the years. Perhaps some of the group members with slip form construction experience would be aware of improvements in slip form construction of grain elevators.
Wes Garcia Bob Summers what does a jump form look like and how is it different from a slip built one. I am thinking of having one on my layout being built in the current time period. Thanks for the info.
Dennis DeBruler Wes Garcia As Bob Summers has explained, there will be a distinct gap between the silos if jump form was used. From photos it is sometimes easier to identify the gaps between silos than the bands on the silos. Also, I've noticed that jump form silos generally have a significantly larger diameter and are built as just one row. Slip form silos are smaller and typically have two to four rows.

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Bob Summers posted two photos with the comment:

The former terminal elevator owned by "The Salina Terminal Elevator Co / Smoot Grain" in Hutchinson Kansas. A "terminal elevator" here in hard red winter wheat country had the capacity to furnish official weights and grades and served by railroads with "transit privilege" where the inbound freight applied to the total freight rate to final destination whether domestic or export. With the railroad rates now for trainload shipments from origin to destination this Terminal designation is virtually obsolete.

[I don't know if this grew into one of the above elevators, if was torn down, or if there is a small elevator in Hutchinson. I'm saving it mainly for the info in the comments.]
J Pete Hedgpeth Transit billing was used for grain and other bulk commodities "back in the day"..It was a "horrendous" bookkeeping nighmare to keep track of and generated tons of paperwork and clerical jobs for the railroads...Transit billing also applied to lumber. All this was done "by hand" long before the days of the computer. Paper, carbon paper, staples and other office "impedimentia" was used by the ton.
Bob Summers As a grain firm specializing in grain merchandising and handling we would originate wheat at our country elevators and ship it to our terminal so we could make "mill mixes" to our flour mill customers specifications. We would also buy grain on our Board of Trade to supplement the grain we were able to originate when needed to meet specific quality criteria. Then when the farmers sold some wheat throughout the year we sold and shipped to various flour mills also served by the railroads serving us, in our case in Hutchinson the Missouri Pacific, Rock Island and Santa Fe. Transit of course would be much easier to process with the computers we have now, but its important function seemed to go away as the export volume increased and efficient logistics provided by shipping full trainloads from orgin to the port elevators became the norm.

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Bob Summers posted
100 years old and still in use as a grain elevator, the headhouse and bins to the left was the original Security Elevator Company's terminal in Hutchinson Kansas - built in the winter of 1919-1920. Still operated by ADM. No need to re-purpose this old timer!
Steve Dick Elevator B..work there from time to time. Pretty much spend all my time across the street at JRick Barton i am curious about the odd windows on the headhouse.Bob Summers Screens designed to keep birds out when windows are opened for ventilation.

Bob Summers commented on his post
I am often asked why the big headhouse. This was a "public elevator" back in the day and we specialized in conditioning grain and blending mill mixes for our customers. This rate sheet describes many of the services provided.

Irsik & Doll Feed/Larabee Flour Mill

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

Larabee Flour Mill was built in Hutchinson Kansas in 1908 with the concrete grain elevator added later. The mill has been closed some 60 years, but the elevator is open and operating as one of Irisk & Doll's falilities. Part of the mill building was used as a warehouse by a moving van company, and perhaps others, but has been abandoned for a number of years.

Michael C. Blankenship The mill part had an arson fire a few years back if you recall: https://www.hutchnews.com/.../former-mill-scene-of-fire
[Judging from a satellite image, it used to be served by a connector to two different railroads.]

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[A Cargill elevator is in the background.]

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Bob Summers posted four images with the comment:

Larabee Mill: I found this old postcard showing the Larabee Brothers Flour Mill in Hutchinson Kansas. Located on Lorraine and Ave A, the mill and original elevator were built in 1908 following a fire that destroyed their mill in Stafford Kansas. In 1909 Larabee doubled the grain storage by building an additional brick grain storage house similar to the first one. In 1910 they built the steel grain bins shown in the photograph. The mill incorporated German milling machinery and they advertised as "America's Only German Flouring Mill." In 1915 Larabee added the 640,000 bushel concrete elevator built by Maton Construction Company from Appleton Wisconsin. The new elevator was powered entirely by electric motors. The mill was also converted from steam to electric power about this time. The Larabee family sold their several flour mills in 1919 to Warren-Crosby Mills of Minneapolis Minnesota. The mill continued to operate under the Larabee name through several mergers and acquisitions. In the early 1960's, when it was known as "Commander-Larabee" owned by Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) this mill was finally closed. The other photographs were taken in 2019.

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Kathy Black posted eight images with the comment: "The Larabee/Irsik & Doll Elevator - Hutchinson, KS 2022"

Bob Summers: Larabee Flour Mill was one of over 40 facilities covered in my new book, “Mills & Elevators 1871 - 2021”

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Irsik & Doll Feed/Kelly Mill

Bob Summers posted two photos with the comment:

Another closed flour mill in Hutchinson Kansas. Kelly Mill was operating two mills here mid century. The older plant in the photo on the right was on South Main Street and was closed and torn down in the 1960's as I recall. The new mill and elevator in the photo on the left, while still standing, was closed probably 15 years later. The elevator is still operating as a facility of Irisk & Doll.

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Bob Summers posted
My previous post on the former Kelly Mill in Hutchinson Kansas was from the other side featuring Chalmers and Borton's very successful hex design from the '50's and '60's. This view shows the original concrete elevator with the slip continuing to the roof and a catwalk for the conveyor over the open topped bins. The windows near the top of the slip is the unique feature. I have posted old elevators with this design in Wichita, Ellinwood and Leavenworth, and am curious if anyone knows what contractor used this design, probably in the '20's & '30's, making them historically significant?

Digitally Zoomed

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

Wm Kelly "B" Flour Mill in Hutchinson, Kansas. In 1920 Kelly purchased the flour mill and elevator of the Reno Flour Mill Company on Lorraine at Ave B, said to be the most up to date flour mill in Hutchinson. Throughout the '20's Kelly's made several improvements, including in 1925 a 250,000 bushel annex to the concrete grain elevator that was built by the Jones-Hettelsater Construction Company from Kansas City. This was the middle section of grain bins seen in the first photograph as Kelly again contracted with Jones-Hettelsater to build the last annex seen on the left, or east end. This was a style of open topped grain bins, common for flour mills in our area that were built in the early 20th century. These featured windows near the top of the bins to illuminate the conveyor and catwalk just below the roof of the structure. The mill was modernized over the years, and in 1958 they added the taller "hex bin" elevator built by Chalmers & Borton Contractors, based here in Hutchinson. The new elevator had a capacity of about 600,000 bushels. My recollection is that the William Kelly Milling Company ceased operations of this mill in the 1980's. The mill is closed, but the elevators continue to be operated by Irsik & Doll, based in Cimarron, Kansas.

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Cargill/Continental/Jennings

Bob Summers posted two photos with the comment:

The former C D Jennings Grain Company terminal elevator in Hutchinson Kansas was purchased by Continental Grain, a major exporter, in the mid 1960's. The main head house and first set of bins was built in 1929 and included in "The Grain Elevators of North America - 5th Edition" published in 1942 touting the then state of the art grain blending and mixing capabilities. This division of Continental Grain was sold to Cargill Grain about 20 years ago and is still in operation.

Michael C. Blankenship One of our local photographers and drone operators got some nice aerial shots also:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbWVbDEIc9c
Jerry Krug Which railroad serves this elevator?
Bob Summers One of the reasons Hutchinson was a major market for hard red winter wheat it is located at an intersection of 3 major railroads. Back in the day the Santa Fe, Rock Island and the Missouri Pacific. All the terminals here had "reciprocal switching service" for all three. Now the BNSF, the UP, resulting from mergers and a "shortline" known as the "K & O" (Kansas & Oklahoma) is operating on the old MOP and some former branch lines of the AT&SF in the region. serve Hutchinson.
[There is more discussion about which railroad served which elevator.]

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Both the Cargill above and the ADM below

Steve Dick posted
Cargill and ADM.. Hutchinson Kansas
Bob Summers The headhouses reach the clouds! Cargill, formerly Gano Grain, Division of Bunge Corp on the left. ADM on the right was originally Farmers Commission Company, then designated as their Elevator "A" when they built their Elevator "B" in the mid '50's. Farmers Commission Company merged with I think two other regional co-ops to form Far-Mar-Co about 1960 or so. Far-Mar-Co was a regional grain marketing cooperative owned by the local cooperatives in their trade area. It was a very major player in the grain handling industry in the central great plains states. Eventually Far-Mar-Co and Union Equity, another regional grain marketing cooperative based in Enid Oklahoma, merged. Then in the "merger mania era" Farmland Industries, a cooperative also owned by the local cooperatives, took over. Farmland Industries was not a grain marketing entity, they did fertilizer, fuel and feed products that were consumed by the producers. They failed to understand the difference in how to efficiently market what the farmers produce, and in short order it failed. ADM, a very successful privately owned grain marketing firm ultimately acquired many of the former regional cooperative grain marketing facilities and appear to be successfully operating them.The rail line visible to the right of the street (Halstead) was the connector between the Santa Fe and the Rock Island railroads here in Hutchinson Kansas. This allowed elevators on this connector line to be switched by both railroads. Eventually four terminal elevators were built on this track. The first in 1919 was the Security Elevator, just behind the photographer. I think George Gano built the first part of the elevator on the left in about 1929. Farmers Commission Co built the first part of the elevator on the right in the early '30's. I am not sure if their first was the one on the right or left of their "twin parallel" layout. Then the fourth on this connector line was Farmers' "B" house, the big half mile long elevator featuring "hex" instead of round bins that is posted from time to time. This connector line is only about 3 miles in length, but back when terminals received inbound rail shipments, was very important.

Adm I/Far-Mar-Co A

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

The former Farmers' Commission Company terminal "A" in Hutchinson, Kansas. In the hard red winter area the local co-ops are owned by the local farmers, a different form of ownership than grain handling firms owned by individuals or partnerships. Then the local co-ops grouped together to create regional cooperatives for grain marketing and terminal grain storage. In the early '60's, as I recall, the Farmers' Commission Company merged with some other regional cooperatives to form "Far-Mar-Co" based here in Hutchinson serving the local co-ops primarily in Kansas, Nebraska and eastern Colorado. Another similar entity serving Oklahoma and Texas co-ops called "Union Equity" was based in Enid, Oklahoma. I think in the late '70's Far-Mar-Co and Union Equity were merged, then merged into Farmland Industries, another entity owned by local cooperatives primarily engaged in supply of fuels and fertilizer - a different business than grain marketing and storage. Ultimately ADM purchased the grain handling facilities and is still operating these elevators in our area.

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Christopher Scholl posted
Late night loading cars, elevator I,hutch ks.

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

The original Farmers Commission Co / Far-Mar-Co / Union Equity / Farmland Industries terminal elevator in Hutchinson Kansas. Now ADM Elevator "I" ?? The first photo is the original part of this elevator, built in the early '30's I believe. The second is a full view, also viewed from the west. The "rippled appearance" of the side of the elevator indicates this elevator has "bell shaped bins" between the fully round bins - a typical feature of terminal elevators of that era that needed bins of different capacities in order to be able to properly blend wheat to produce consistent quality mill mixes for their customers. The third view is of the east side showing the "dual parallel" layout here. The outside legs, and steel bin, were added when the ability to receive grain by truck became critical as the railroads phased out "transit" - eliminating for all practical purposes receiving grain by rail.

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Steve Dick posted a copyrighted photo, and I have chosen not to give him free advertising. The reason to note this post is because of the replies to the question: Gord Coates: "Isn't that the biggest?  I remember it was near 1/2 a mile of silos."

Bob Summers: Back in the ‘50’s when this elevator was built it was to store surplus wheat for the Commodity Credit Corporation. Now it is a train loading facility shipping wheat and corn primarily to ports on the Gulf of Mexico for export.

Bob Summers commented on Gord's comment, cropped

Different elevator. That one though is about 18.5 million bushels. This one was about 5.5 million before ADM added the corrugated galvanized steel bin, which is probably less than 2 million. There is another elevator just SW of Wichita that the concrete elevator was a little longer with a capacity of just under 20 million bushels that also had significant flat storage attached making the total almost 50 million bushels at one time. See photo [of the big Hutchinson ADM elevator].

Abandoned/Hutchinson

Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:

Hutchinson Terminal Elevator was the first concrete grain elevator in Hutchinson Kansas, built in 1913, to give the owners operating several country elevators in far southwestern Kansas the ability to ship to flour mills on the three railroads (AT&SF, CRIP, and MOP) serving Hutchinson. Still standing, but no longer in service as shown by the last photo.

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Cell Phone Tower/Davidson

Bob Summers posted
The former Davidson Grain Company Terminal in Hutchinson Kansas has been re-purposed into a cell phone tower.
Dennis DeBruler It looks like the addition used hexagonal bins, https://www.google.com/.../@38.074205,-97.../data=!3m1!1e3
Bob Summers Yes. The story on the hex bin design was originally from a Chalmbers & Borton customer wanting all the bins to be the same size in a new terminal elevator in Enid Oklahoma in the early '50's. In the '50's they built the former Farmers Commision Co's Elevator "B" (the 1/2 mile long terminal here in Hutchinson) and this annex for Davidson. The third hex house built in Hutchinson was for Kelly Miling in the early - mid '60's. This design was very successful for Chalmbers & Borton.

Kelly Hogan posted, cropped
Used to be served by the ATSF with a spur down the middle of Lorraine street, then turned northwest at 11th street.
17th and Severance, Hutchinson, KS December 2021
Sam Andrews: Always wondered what line the Lorraine track belonged to.

Michael C. Blankenship commented on Kelly's post
The original line was not built to go to this elevator, but turned west running along the north side of 17th Avenue, then NW thru the Kwik Shop that is at 17th and Plum to the Kansas State Fairgrounds.

Charlotte Summers commented on Bob's post
Thought a telephoto shot of the headhouse might be a useful image.

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

Davidson Grain Terminal in Hutchinson Kansas: The first mention I have found of Davidson Grain was in 1924 as R.C. Davidson was a grain merchandiser and broker. In 1929 he built the first part of this elevator just north of 17th before Severance Street was platted. The builder was Chalmers & Borton still based in Kansas City, and the on site superintendent was John Borton. One unique feature of this elevator is that it had a full basement, instead of a tunnel, under the bins. At the time this was located out in the country, and not adjacent to one of the three railroad trunk lines serving Hutchinson. I remember when I started working on the Hutchinson Board of Trade in about 1965 asking R C Davidson why they built the elevator at that location. Mr. Davidson said the railroad gave them incentives to put their elevator on the spur that the railroad had to run into the Fairgrounds so they could justify maintaining that trackage. The hex-bin annex was built in 1953. The steel flat storage building was added in the late 1950's. The grain was loaded out and the elevator closed after the death of Buss Davidson in the late '80's. The railroad took up the tracks because it had been a number of years since they needed to switch railcars into the grounds of the Kansas State Fair. The right of way for the tracks was subsequently used to build flood control drainage. The elevator stood unused for several years until there was a shortage of grain storage space and someone leased it utilizing trucks inbound and outbound. Located in a residential neighborhood they had a lot of complaints so that activity was short lived. The current owner has converted the headhouse into a cell phone and communications tower.

Rich Reed The drainage ditch was there when the elevator was operating. Its been there for decades. Fascinating. I wonder where the spur to the fairgrounds ran.
Bob Summers There may have been an open drainage ditch from the elevator north that emptied into an underground storm sewer, but the open ditch on the south side of 17th, then running southeast, was the previous rail road right of way. The next nearest business served on that spur was a lumber yard north of 11th on the west side of Lorraine. The line continued west on the south side of 17th, where there is now open drainage until the street that goes to the school, to the intersection 17th & Plum, where it crossed 17th. The homes on the north side of Crescent Street backed up to the rail spur as it entered the fairgrounds.
Michael C. Blankenship Rich Reed - The track to the State Fairgrounds ran on the north side of 17th from the diagonal up along the ditch, it then curved NW into the Fairgrounds where the Kwik Shop is at Plum and 17th.

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Michael C. Blankenship commented on Bob's post
Here is an old map with the track to the Fairgrounds. The loop off Main Street in the upper left is the old trolley line.
Rich Reed Wow. Thats crazy.. So all those houses werent there. Kwik shop, sub station etc. Why did the track go to the fairgrounds?
Bob Summers The fair carnival (American Royal, etc) went by train to the various state fairs back in the day. Some of the exhibitors likely also. Very few all weather highways. The flour mills on Lorraine were basically east of town. In 1912 my grandfatherr came to Hutchinson and had a house near the north edge of the city, on 11th. In the late teens and '20's the residential area expanded north.
[There is a discussion about the MP depot.]

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's post
This topo map still shows the Santa Fe spur going to the elevator. But it has been abandoned to the fairgrounds. In fact, the spur to the elevator is still in a 1972 map. 1972 is the last date for a hi-res map.
1960 Hutchinson Quadrangle @ 1:24,000
Rich Reed Dennis DeBruler My grandpa ran the Davidson elevator until it closed in like 1990. It was in the 2000s that they pulled the track.
Bob Summers Michael C. Blankenship I have a question and thought you might be able to find the answers from your railroad sources. Was the Santa Fe the first railroadd to reach Hutchinson Kansas? What year? When did the Rock Island and the Missouri Pacific reach Hutchinson? Alexa just admits she does not know! Thanks.
Michael C. Blankenship Bob Summers I believe ATSF was the first, as the town was named after C C Hutchinson with the RR Plus ATSF controlled the diamonds in town that crossed their track, which typically means they were there first.
Rich Reed Michael C. Blankenship i agree. Cc hutchindon found a clause in the indian treaty where the railroad would have to pay per acre etc. And told them. Thats why they went west.

Dennis DeBruler replied to Rich on Bob's post
Rich Reed Since the track was pulled in the 21st Century, I took another look at Global Earth. A Sep 1991 image shows the homes have been built by the fairgrounds, but the track is to the elevator.

Dennis DeBruler replied to Rich on Bob's post
The next image available is Mar 2002. It is not as clear, but I believe the track is still there.

Dennis DeBruler replied to Rich on Bob's post
Rich Reed The next image, Aug 2003, shows the track is gone.

Adm Grain Elev. A/Collingwood

Bob Summers shared
Jack Daw Great photo! Does anyone know what specific elevator it is?
Bob Summers Yes, the Former Colllingwood Grain Terminal in Hutchinson Kansas now operated by ADM. Other members that are ADM employees here can give your ADM's designation. It is on the UP railroad and is the northernmost terminal elevator here.
Christopher Scholl Elev.A.
[The ground pile on the right side is empty.]

Bob Summers posted two photos with the comment:

Two different views of the former Collingwood Grain, now ADM Elevator "A", in Hutchinson Kansas. The first photo is a view I have not seen of this elevator, and evidence that sometimes late fall & winter can provide excellent opportunities to better see grain elevators. Collingwood built the first phase of this terminal, the portion including the headhouse and bins to the right, in the 1930's. A close look discloses the "rippled look" of the silos, indicative of "bell bins" between the fully round bins that I have discussed in detail before. I am told this elevator, before the outside legs were added in the '80's or '90's in order to facilitate receiving grain by truck, only had one leg (vertical grain conveyor) - common in country elevators, but unusual in terminals because that limits the elevator crew to only doing one function at a time. The second photo is from the side this elevator is most often photographed, but I wanted to show the additional covered ground pile they added this fall.

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Abandoned/Salina/Grain Belt Terminal

Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:

Grain Belt Terminal in Hutchinson Kansas was started in 1928 as a joint venture involving people with the L.H. Pettit Grain Company and the Estes family with Midwest Grain. It is located on the south side of the BNSF railroad on Sherman Street between Severance and Lorraine. The initial build was the 100,000 bushel "working house" or taller headhouse part, but before it was completed the first set of round bins with a capacity of 325,000 bushels was started. According to Borton, Inc. records the name on that portion was "Midwest Grain." Then in 1929, the second annex, another 250,000 bushels, and also a grain drier - unusual here in the hard red winter wheat belt at the time, was built. The superintendent on this job was John Borton. This elevator was the first built in Hutchinson by Chalmers & Borton, still based in Kansas City at the time. In 1935 the Grain Belt terminal elevator in Hutchinson was acquired by Salina interests that also owned a terminal elevator in Enid, Oklahoma, and flour mills in Salina, Abilene, Ellsworth, Newton and Topeka, Kansas. The office and elevator in Hutchinson operated under the names of Smoot Grain and Salina Terminal Elevator until the early 1980;s as I recall. At some point these operations were acquired by Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) but continued to be operated under their local names. This elevator was closed after ADM acquired Collingwood Grain, which had two larger terminals in Hutchinson, so this facility was no longer needed.

Richard Risley My first grain management position was in Hutchinson with Smoot Grain Company managing this facility as Salina Terminal Elevator Company. I moved to Hutch to replace retiring Jim Douglas. Wow - so many memories of my early 70s time in Hutchinson. The people that I crossed paths with were such great grainmen & women that helped me learn the business. The Hutchinson Board of Trade was still an active organization.
Bob Summers Thanks, Richard Risley. I thought it interesting that John Borton personally was the on site supt for the '29 addition. Please let me know if I missed anything of general interest or if my shut down dates are off. Were you still there when it was loaded out and closed?

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Abandoned/Western Terminal Eelevator

Bob Summers posted four images with the comment:

Western Terminal Elevator in Hutchinson Kansas was razed about twenty years ago so I am still looking for better photographs. The firm was chartered in 1929 by Bruce Young, Fred Burns and Hal Davis. They contracted with the Jones-Hettelsater Construction Company, based in Kansas City, to build the elevator. On completion of the initial build they immediately doubled the capacity as seen in the first photo I found in a newspaper article. Shortly after that phase was completed they doubled again as shown in the next old photo I found in an article about the grain elevators in Hutchinson in several editions of Polk City Directories. I have not found when the annex forming the "T" was added, but it is visible in both the dark photo taken from the roof of the Security Elevator in the mid 1950's when the movie "Picnic" was filmed, and in another photo I found recently on the internet of several of the terminal elevators in Hutchinson. I am still looking for better photographs. At some point they sold this elevator to Rodney Milling Co. but it was continued to be operated as the Western Terminal Elevator. In the late fifties or early sixties, I believe, it was purchased by one of the Garvey family grain companies, CGF. In the mid sixties there was a trade within the Garvey family and it became part of Garvey Elevators who continued to operate it until the third generation of the Garvey family sold their interests in the grain handling businesss about thirty years ago. I am not sure it there was another owner, or if the Garvey family had it razed. This was located at te south end of Chemical street on the north side of the BNSF trunk line. A bulk dry fertilizer warehouse and distribution facility is now on this site.

Rich Reed This was my uncle jack reeds elevator. He said they didnt want to pay the taxes so they demolished it with a wrecking ball. They gave alk the neighbors ground up concrete for their drive ways to compensate for all the dust the demo caused.
Bob Summers Who was "they"? Still Garvey Elevators or had someone else taken over by then? Do you recall what year?
Rich Reed Bob Summers I believe Garvey. My uncle Jack died in 2012. He was force retired when they demolishes it several years earlier.
Dennis DeBruler The Aug 2006 Google Earth image shows the elevator. The bins were gone by Jul 2008. I noticed the long buildings still remain. And you can see they have started work on the Hutchinson Fertilizer building.
The "T" annex is missing from a 1950 historic aerial but is present in the next one, which is 1959. The oldest topo map I can find with decent resolution is 1960, so that doesn't help determine the time of the "T" construction.

The first image was copyrighted. It showed bins on only one side of the elevator.

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Google Earth, Aug 2006

Google Earth, Jul 2008

Abandoned/Potters Elevator

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:

Kansas Grain Company was originally "Potter's Elevator" - the first grain elevator in Hutchinson Kansas, built on the Santa Fe (the first rail road to reach Hutchinson) in the mid 1870's. In 1881 it was leased to J.T. Templer who purchased it the next year and re-named it the Kansas Grain Company. Devastating fires were common in the early grain elevators, and Kansas Grain was no exception. Grain elevators then were powered by coal fired steam engines. I have not been able to find satisfactory photographs, but the first photo appears to show at least two wooden elevators. In 1914 they built a concrete "four in a row" elevator, which doubled the grain storage capacity. This was the second concrete grain elevator built in Hutchinson. The next year the two large flour mills, Kelly and Larabee, built their first concrete grain storage. Kansas Grain Company continued to operate until it was sold in 1949 to Milton Bosse, the operator of several country elevators in western Kansas and in the Ellinwood area. By then, just the "four in a row concrete structure" as seen in the poor quality aerial photo of downtown Hutchinson, was all that remained. The capacity was listed at 125,000 bushels. In 1952 the John Carey Grain Company was chartered and operations cntinued until the mid 1960's when it was closed and razed. The third photo is of an artist's sketch of this old landmark.

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Bob Summers The caption on this sketch mistakenly places in on Walnut. Actually was just west of Washington, and the viewpoint of the artist is looking west.
Dennis DeBruler Thanks for providing a correct location. I would have gone bananas trying to find it in a wrong location. Historic aerials show that it was torn down between 1986 and 1991. The railroad spur came in from the West.
It was on the south side of this parking lot.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

Bob Summers shared five photos with the comment: "A re-post as able to find better pictures, thanks to Steve Harmon."

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Michael C. Blankenship Was this during the Hutchinson flood?
Bob Summers One of many. I think this was in 1922
Michael C. Blankenship Looked like water around the railcars. Thanks for the info on the elevator!

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Overviews

Bob Summers posted
The Hutchinson Terminal Elevator in the foreground was built in 1913 and had some additions over the years. Now abandoned. To the right the former Kelly Flour Mill with several additions over the years. To the left the former Larabee Flour Mill, later acquired by ADM and closed in the '60's. Both mills are now abandoned but the elevators are still in service. To the far left in the photo is the former C.D. Jennings Terminal Elevator, the initial part was built in 1929.
Stephen Noyes That wasn't switched by the Santa Fe in the 1960's? I don't remember it when I worked in Way Yards.... Do you remember these Harold Ewy ?
Bob Summers The elevator in the foreground was switched by the Rock Island, as was Jennings. The Kelly Mill is adjacent to the AT&ST junction. Larabee/AD M flour mill I do not remember.
Stephen Noyes Bob Summers I think I remember Kelly Mill, it had two tracks as into the head house. I'm asking Harold Ewy, he's my expert rememberer. I do remember ITCHY Klassen from the 60's for sure!!

Bob Summers shared
Grain Elevators in Hutchinson Kansas are said to be difficult to photograph, but I keep trying. My family built the first concrete elevator in Hutchinson in 1913. The contractor was Morrison Bros. Construction Co. out of Kansas City. After the Security Elevator terminal (not visible in this photo) was built the elevator in the foreground was operated as Security Elevator "C" before being sold in the 1950's and the new owner adding the concrete stave tanks and a feedmill which recently was razed. To the right in the photo is the east complex of Kelly Mills, originally built in the 1920's and a Chalmbers & Borton "hex bin" elevator built in the early 1960's. The mill was closed in the '80's as I recall, but Irsik & Doll is operating the elevator. To the left of the old elevator can be seen the Larabee Flour Mill and elevator. At some point ADM acquired this mill and operated it until about 1950. The elevator on the far left was the CD Jennings terminal, its tall headhouse and initial phase visible just past the Larabee Mill, was built in 1929. Jennings sold to Continental Grain in the mid 1960's. Cargill acquired Continental in the 1990's and continues to operate this terminal today.

Update: I don't have time do deal with it now, but I'm noting a post because it has a lot of information about ADM J and I. When I tried to process this post, I noticed that I have ADM I photos in the ADM J section. That is one reason why a proper update would take more time than I have.