M: MKC (Mid Kansas Coop): (Satellite)
(roundhouse)
A1: Ardent Mills Terminal: (Satellite)
F: Galvion(formerly ConAgra)/Far-Mar-Co: (3D Satellite)
C: CCGP/General Mills/Red Star Mill (was a flour mill): (3D Satellite)
P: Beachner/Pillsbury's (was a flour mill): (3D Satellite)
S: Cargill Soybean Processing: (3D Satellite)
W: Watson Flour Milling Co. (was a flour mill): (3D Satellite)
A2: Ardent Mills: (Satellite)
G: Gavilon(formerly ConAgra)/DeBruce/Garvey: (3D Satellite)
O: Old Stone Elevator
I've hit information overload. For now, I'm just recording some posts so that later I can study the new comments with a fresh brain: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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Barlett
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| KWCH12 (source) Wichita firefighters rescue man stuck in boom lift [The worker was 120' in the air, and he was not hurt. There is no information as to how/why he was stuck.] |
Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:
Bob Summers posted two images with the comment:
Bob Summers posted four images with the comment:
Dennis DeBruler, from my research this is the elevator that was for the Watson Flour Mill in Wichita. You can see in the 2nd photo where a conveyor to the mill would have been. This style of elevator can be found in a number of flour mills built here in Kansas in the early 20th century.
Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:
Bob Summers 3 separate elevators but looks like there are conveyors allowing grain to be moved from one to another.
Bob Summers posted four images with the comment:
Bob Summers Not sure who "McC" is, Joe Harker, but this silo is definitely a slip, not a jump form, and does not have McPherson Concrete's trademark "diamond top" near the top of the concrete. Per newspaper article Todd & Sargent was the contractor on the mill upgrades, and since they do slip form, seemed reasonable to figure they also did the silo on this project.
Joe Harker McCormick construction company, and your right it is a slip, this one is used load out purposes,
Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:
The brown rectangle below the flat buildings is where they built their ground storage.
They tore down almost half of the silos. The ones remaining are hex shaped to have more uniform sized bins.
Bob Summers posted five photos with the comment:
Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:
Did more research and found a 1918 date on the original concrete short bin elevator likely attached to an earlier wooden elevator and mill, 1908 image attached to a reply to an inquiry on the last photo, which I found in Kansas Memories from the Kansas Historical Society. The two aerial views are from Google Earth. The first photo is one I took last summer. The original concrete tanks would have been attached to the original wood elevator and mill between the newer small mill on the right in the last image. When General Mills acquired Red Star in the early '20's it looks like they built a new mill and elevator just west, and connected to the old elevator with a conveyor gallery added to the top of the original. Still looking for information as to the construction company that built slip form bins with windows near the top and the conveyor under the roof, usually associated with early flour mills.
Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:
David Budka At one time they had a four mill complex on this site!
Bob Summers My research, David Budka, uncovered a number of early mills just south across the street from this one along the railroad for about a mile or so. On this, the north side, I just found the Red Star Mill & Elevator Co, which was acquired by General Mills, and the Watson Flour Mill a couple of blocks to the northeast by another still standing abandoned early concrete elevator with windows near the top of the bin walls - indicating the conveyor was below the roof. To the south, the present Ardent Mill has multiple differt structures, as does the Cargill Soybean plant further south, which are evidence of the several early flour mills you referenced. If I am missing something, or you have further information, please share.
David Budka I looked up the history of Red Star Mills and on one website it showed them as having four mills. Of course the largest being the newest. I think it was a postcard showing all four mills. I think your pictures show three of the four mills.
Bob Summers David Budka could be. I think the oldest picture I posted with the wood elevator shows a mill that was probably just at the end of the concrete elevator when it was built. It looks to me like that mill was no longer there, and another replaced it as seen to the right of the little concrete elevator, which by the time of the photos I found was attached by an overhead conveyor to the new larger elevator and mill that General Mills built after they acquired Red Star. General Mills continued to mill both the Red Star brand and General Mills brands of flour. If you have a picture of a fourth mill I would like to see it. Of course, fires were common in the early wooden flour mills, so they might have rebuilt one or more that burned down back in the day.
Dennis DeBruler It looks like it is today's CCGP:
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
Bob Summers Yes, CCGP operates the elevator Dennis DeBruler. In my reply to David Budka last evening my recall was in error where Ardent Mill and Cargill Soybean Processing are in relation to this old General Mills facility. They are about a mile south, not just across the street. Also the old Watson Mill is southeast, not northeast, of this site. The old Consolidated Mill which is gone, but the elevator is still in use as Mid Kansas Co-op is just a few block north east. In any case, a lot of flour milling history in Wichita Kansas.
Bob Summers posted five photos with the comment: "Wichita Kansas - thanks again to Sam Andrews, my go-to guy in Wichita for filling in some blanks for me on this one. Red Star mill started in 1905 with a small slip form concrete elevator and flour mill. These little early slip form elevators were intriguing to me until I learned they were built like early annexes on wood elevators, with the conveyor to fill the bin’s suspended below the bin tops. This small facility became Red Star’s mill and elevator “A” after they acquired the neighboring former Watson Mill in 1913. In 1921 Red Star built a new large mill and elevator, designated “C.” Note the large full sized head house for the grain cleaning equipment. The set of four bins between the tall head house and the mill building were the only grain storage, aside from the small elevator on mill “A” (seen in the last old photo) - until General Mills purchased Red Star in 1928 and built the large annex. The original old water tower for the mill is interesting. General Mills closed their flour mill in Wichita in 1966, along with several others, to consolidate their flour milling operations. I believe that after the government wound down the need for space for surplus grain this facility was idle, except for a few short periods when grain storage space was needed. I remember being in this elevator in the mid ‘90’s when it was being used for a few years, and was surprised to see they still had the original open electric motors powering the conveyors in the gallery. My 2008 Kansas Grain Elevator lists it as CCGP (a joint venture between the Cairo Co-op and the Garden Plain Co-op) with a capacity of two million bushels. It is not listed in my new 2023 Kansas Grain Elevator Directory. It is difficult to photograph all views of elevators in urban industrial areas without other industry, trucks or railcars obscuring the view of the elevator. Current photos taken June 2023. 1940 N. Topeka just west of the BNSF railroad and north of 17th."
This is in the middle-right part of the above 3D Satellite image.
Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:
Bob Summers Our terminal built in about 1920 in Hutchinson was fairly typical for the time. Our train shed has 2 tracks, the one next to the elevator was the only one we could scoop the boxcars to empty them, so we called that one the "house track" The other track we called the "back track" in that cars could be loaded back on that siding. Actually we could load cars on both tracks, but just unload on the house track. Larger elevators had car dumpers that tilted and tipped boxcars to unload them without personel needing to actually be in the boxcar, I think only 2 of the 12 terminals in Hutchinson were equiped with dumpers. I do not recall that any had a "transfer table"
Danny Farnsworth At one time there was a car dumper in-between the elevators in the middle of the now UP yard in wichita.
Bob Summers Do not know the rail roads there. Are you referring to the old Far-Mar-Co / Union Equity terminal, half which has been torn down?
Jim Merrick Bob, I'm sure he is. The yard to the west was Rock Island's Cline Yard, and the east complex was the Missouri Pacific -- it's all UP now.
There was one track that ran in between the two elevators.
Bob Summers Referring to Danny Farnsworth second comment in this string, we used to occassionally do "direct transfers" for the railroads. Sometimes because a boxcar or hopper car was leaking, and sometimes when the railroad weighed cars on their track scales and found a car to be overloaded and needed to have the excess weight removed. Either way this meant the elevator had to unload the car to weigh the grain, then load it back, often into the same car unless the leak was due to a problem with the railcar. Most leaks from a boxcar were due to coopering issues with the door liner inside the box car door. Other times we on occassion had to unload a car we had just loaded when after grain inspection graded the carlot it was determined that the specified quality called for in the sale or loading order had not been met, usually this situation came up if shipping to a flour mill.
Dennis DeBruler Transfer tables were common next to backshop buildings in railroad yards. But most of those buildings have been torn down. There is one remaining in Logansport, IN, and I was able to catch them using the table. This link should take you to the best view of the table moving.
https://youtu.be/DgwC4b_JuAg?t=131
Linda Laird My database shows that it was originally built for Pillsbury in 1929, constructed by The Barnett & Record Co of Minneapolis. The designer was Max Lehman who also oversaw the building of a Pillsbury elevator in Atchison.
Linda Laird Cost was $700,000. A lot of money in 1929, it would be $10,510,602.34 today. Barnett & Record had been building elevators since at least 1900. In 1929 they were constructing a 1.2M bushel elevator at Great Falls, a 2M bushel elevator at Enid OK and a 500K bushel elevator at Oklahoma City. Not a small firm by any means! Their success must have encouraged Chalmers & Borton of Hutchinson who were just beginning to build elevators.
Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment: "Wichita Kansas - Cargill elevator and soybean processing plant."
Linda Laird posted two photos with the comment:
In about 1970 Garvey Elevators (not to be confused with Garvey Grain) purchased this Terminal, the Sam P Wallingford Wichita Public Terminal, and about 14 country elevators in south central Kansas. When the 3rd generation of the Garvey family sold their interests in the grain handling industry, about 1990 as I recall, this facility was purchased by Bartlett Grain out of Kansas City. They have the location and space here in the northern part of Wichita to handle inbound trucks and so have successfully adapted to doing business without the "transit provision" that enabled inbound rail transportation to terminal elevators pending sale and unit train shipments to to the ultimate destination.
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| Jack Daw posted
I bought this linen postcard on Ebay many years ago.... it has no identifying information on it beyond the “Gigantic modern grain elevators for the bread basket of the U. S. A.” caption. I am guessing the card is 1940s or 50s vintage.
Any ideas as to the location and identity of this elevator?Jim Merrick I'm thinking that Bob is right. The RR track orientation (in foreground) would fit the Bartlett terminal here -- that would be the Santa Fe. Jim Merrick Pretty sure Bob Summers is right. This is the original part of that terminal, oriented N-S. Working house and flat storage and track alingment fit -- but it has lost the "doghouse" over the years. Here: https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4... Bob Summers The "dog house" Jim Merrick, is a mystery to me. Maybe at one time they put in an outside receiving pit and leg on the other side of the slip form concrete? In any case it is no longer there and I see nothing remaining in my photographs from the other side. |
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Bob Summers commented on Jack's post Here is the former Wallingford Public Elevator, then Garvey Elevators, now Bartlett Grain just east of 3300 N Broadway in Wichita Kansas. No doubt this is the elevator on the postcard photo. The major identifying feature for me was the "lean-too" flat storage annex. There may be others, but the only one I know about for sure is on the former Garvey Grain Terminal southwest of Wichita. Bob Summers Just noticed that the newer "east-west" portion seen on the right in this aerial view is actually two parallel batteries of concrete bins, and that a roof has been built covering the void between these, presumedly to add additional storage to this complex. |
MKC (Mid Kansas Coop)
Bob Summers posted two images with the comment:
I photographed this elevator last spring but wanted more information before posting it. When I started working in the Wichita Kansas grain market in the early '70's this was the terminal for Western Grain owned by the Sampson that was a builder of grain elevators. Today I met with an old friend and learned that Sampson acquired this facility probably in the late '50's from Seaboard Milling. He thought the mill was no longer here by that time, but in any case Sampson added the section with the taller bins. Other research tells me this elevator was owned, possibly built, by Consolidated Milling, probably in the '30's. There were several mergers and/or acquisitions before it was called Seaboard. It is now operated by the Mid Kansas Co-op. The aerial view, courtesy of Google Earth, shows that the rail siding has been removed. A close look at the aerial view shows that this terminal has round bins spaced to form "bell shaped bins" between the round bins like another example I showed recently. The evidence of this is the sides of this part of the slip form elevator appears "rippled" in contrast to the rounded appearance of the taller slip form bins.
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Watson Flour Milling Co.
Bob Summers posted four images with the comment:
Several months ago I posted this unique old elevator in Wichita Kansas hoping someone might have more information regards it's history. Finally after doing some research in the library I found that about 100 years ago there was a "Watson Flour Milling Company" on what would be the land just to the left of the elevator as seen in the aerial photo. The shape is unique due to the placement between rail lines. The design, with windows in the bin tops below the roof of the structure, I have only found associated with flour mills built or expanded in the early 20th century. I have not been able yet to learn what firm built grain elevators of this design with the horizontal grain conveyors above open topped bins beneath the roof of the structure, so if anyone has further information, please comment.Bob Summers
Dennis DeBruler, from my research this is the elevator that was for the Watson Flour Mill in Wichita. You can see in the 2nd photo where a conveyor to the mill would have been. This style of elevator can be found in a number of flour mills built here in Kansas in the early 20th century.Jogging memory, Watson Milling was founded by Mr. Watson in 1901. His mill was on north side of 17th st. He later sold to Red Star. The former Watson Mill was torn down in the 50s and Red Star decided not to upgrade it.
Sam Andrews
I am guessing this was the Watson Mill elevator? been looking at those grain tanks for 55 yrs and always intrigued by its design. The Watson mill then would have sat directly south of the elevator. This starts to clear the air. There were a pair of WTA tracks that ran across 17th between the mainlines and the far east tracks of Cereal Foods. That would been the Watson flour loading tracks back in the day.I am going have to get by there and look the ground over but 17th is currently closed for street repairs. I recall reading a newspaper article dated 1981 related to a fire there and that the elevator had been out of service since about 1965.
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Ardent Mills Terminal
Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment:
In 1944 the Ross family purchased the Wichita Terminal Elevator from the Powell family. This elevator in 1944 was the near portion as seen in the 2nd Google Earth view before the part with the four larger bins on the right and the two additional taller parallel elevators were added. Ross Industries sold to Cargill Milling in the 1974. Cargill merged their flour milling business and became Horizon Mills in 2002. Another merger in 2014 resulted in Ardent Mills. I took the ground level photo with the signage last July.Jack Daw Very unusual!
Bob Summers 3 separate elevators but looks like there are conveyors allowing grain to be moved from one to another.
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| Jerry Krug posted Took this photo in Wichita, KS on June 26, 2016. I don't know who owns it. Looks like it's active. Bob Summers This is the former Wichita Terminal Elevator from a different vantage point from my post a few weeks ago. Now owned by Ardent Mills. Nice shot! |
Ardent Mills
Bob Summers posted four images with the comment:
Ardent Mill in Wichita Kansas was originally Kansas Milling, started in 1904. It was acquired by Ross Industries in 1959. The Ross family sold to Cargill in 1974. Cargill's Flour Milling division became Horizon Milling in 2002. A merger in 2014 resulted in the formation of Ardent Mills. This facility is said to be the 4th largest flour mill in the United States. Note in the two Google Photos aerial perspective the large single concrete silo or bin seen in the last of the photos that I took this summer was not there. In my research I found that Ardent did a major upgrading project with Todd & Sargent, including this slip form silo.Joe Harker McC did the slip last summer.
Bob Summers Not sure who "McC" is, Joe Harker, but this silo is definitely a slip, not a jump form, and does not have McPherson Concrete's trademark "diamond top" near the top of the concrete. Per newspaper article Todd & Sargent was the contractor on the mill upgrades, and since they do slip form, seemed reasonable to figure they also did the silo on this project.
Joe Harker McCormick construction company, and your right it is a slip, this one is used load out purposes,
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Former DeBruce/Garvey
Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:
The former Garvey Grain Terminal just southwest of Wichita Kansas was sold by the 3rd generation of the Garvey family in about 1990 to DeBruce Grain which became part of Gavilon Grain around 2005. The aerial view is of this facility, the world's largest elevator under one headhouse, with a capacity in excess of 40 million bushels, in about 1960. In the 1950's the government required more storage capacity for grain under the CCC (Commodity Credit Corporation government crop loan program) quicker than could be built in traditional grain elevators - so the capacity of the upright concrete elevator, about 20 million bushels, was more than doubled with the addition of attached flat storage buildings. The first was what we called the "lean to" filled by spouts from the attached bins. Quickly it became obvious that not enough capacity could be added with another "lean to" so several free standing flat storage buildings were built. I believe the large welded steel bins were added first, but they had been removed before the '70's. The flat storage buildings were filled by conveyors from the elevator, and emptied via belt conveyors in tunnels also connected to the upright concrete elevator. About 20 years ago there was a devastating grain dust explosion with several lives lost. The photos show the rebuilt headhouse structure with the now open design so such an event will be less contained. The bins to the right are now supplied by the visible enclosed conveyor system instead of the original open belt conveyors in the gallery, sometimes called a "Texas house" found in concrete grain elevators built in the 20th century. Gavilon operates the facility now as a full unit train loading facility. They also have a significant covered "ground pile" on the site. I think they are switched by the K & O (Kansas & Oklahoma) railroad operating the former Missouri Pacific branch line, but with reciprocal switching agreements in place in Wichita Kansas they have access to both the UP and the BNSF to the export elevators on the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. The free standing flat storage buildings are no longer used for grain storage and are occupied by various industrial or warehousing firms.Dennis DeBruler In 2018 they demonstrated another danger of working in a grain elevator. Two men were killed when they were buried under 20-25 feet of grain. https://www.kansas.com/latest-news/article215775350.html
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Gavilon used this elevator near the end of their promotional video, and I was able to catch part of their ground storage in the lower-left corner.
Bob Summers posted five images with the comment:
Bob Summers Could be. The Garvey family still owns them and operate an industrial park there. Possibly had a vacant one or two available to lease to Gavilon
Jim Merrick Yes, I sure thought so! While several of the flat buildings are warehouses or light factories, this past year (on my daily drives by) I could tell that grain was being handled in several of the flat buildings -- those on the south end of the series.
Jacob Parle The original gallery southwest of the head house still houses open self-propelled tripper belts, however they are only fill belts and not the original full length fill/reclaim belts that were original to the facility. (If interested- attached is the OSHA report on the dust explosion of this facility that shows original layout and details/pictures)
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/grainhandling/geeit/index.html
Bob Summers Question Jacob Parle Did they replace all of the open belt conveyors in the four basement tunnels with enclosed drag or belt conveyors? I remember in the mid '70's we reactivated the far end sections which had been taken out of service sometime in the '60's when there was a great deal of unused grain storage capacity. I was told that was also when the flat storage buildings were transfered to another Garvey entity to create the Garvey Industrial Park. Building #1, the "lean to" along the southwest tanks continued to be part of the elevator. When the need for more grain storage capacity came around 1980 we did lease 2 or 3 of the flat storage buildings after reactivating the overhead drag conveyors from the concrete elevator and the tunnel open belt conveyors to unload the flats. Also, from the Google Earth photos I posted the train shed now just has one track? We had two, both originally had boxcar dumpers as I recall, but in the mid '70's we deactivated the car dumpers in order to put in a faster belt conveyor system for unloading hoppers. Seems now rail receiving is not a factor, so just load hoppers on one track?
Jacob Parle Bob Summers, as I recall from 2 years ago (the last time we had to do millwright work in that facility) All 4 main reclaim tunnels were enclosed belt conveyors. As far as the rail goes, that facility had the ability to receive unit trains, as our millwright crew installed mineral oilers on a Tramco drag-chain conveyor for incoming grain off the rail pit (not sure how much they actually do receive by rail but they have the ability). There is just one set of rails for use in loading/receiving structure. They have a “in-track” scale for weighing hopper cars, and of course the rail receiving pit.
Great knowing past detailed history of the facility, Thanks Bob
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| Emergency crews respond to a call at a Gavilon grain elevator in south Wichita, where two people were trapped and died Jan. 2, 2018. THE WICHITA EAGLE OSHA said in a news release it cited Gavilon Grain LLC for not providing employees lifelines and fall protection, lockout equipment and rescue equipment; and for allowing employees to enter a bin “in which bridged and/or hung-up grain was present.” “Moving grain acts like quick sand, and can bury a worker in seconds,” OSHA Regional Administrator Kimberly Stille said in the release. “This tragedy could have been prevented if the employer had provided workers with proper safety equipment, and followed required safety procedures to protect workers from grain bin hazards.” "OSHA’s grain handling rule (29 CFR 1910.272) treats silos as confined spaces, requiring workers lowered into a silo to be tethered to an escape system and have an observer watching. The rule also says people should not enter a silo if machinery, such as augers are running." [BakingBusiness (paycount)] |
Bob Summers posted five images with the comment:
I have posted the former Garvey Grain Terminal, just southwest of Wichita Kansas, the largest elevator under one headhouse when it was built in the early '50's, before. However this time I am posting with these screenshots courtesy Google Earth, to illustrate several points. The last photo, circa 1960, shows the upright plus flat storage totalling some 40 million bushels. The first photo is the elevator, post explosion, as reactivated. The 2nd photo shows the north end that now features enclosed high speed conveyors. The 3rd photo shows the south end that still has the original enclosed gallery or Texas house that would have housed the twin open conveyor belts. Possibly they replaced the open belt conveyors with enclosed conveyors but were able to keep the original structure on this end that had less bin top/roof damage in the explosion. The 4th photo shows that when they replaced the headhouse structure they went with an open design that would vent, rather than contain any future grain dust explosion. The flat storage buildings are no longer used for grain storage. DeBruce Grain purchased this elevator from the 3rd generation Garvey Family. Probably some 15 years ago DeBruce sold to Gavilon Grain.John Blankenship Bob Summers I think some of the flat storage buildings are again being used to store grain. I drove by on the east side a couple of years ago and there were hopper bottom semis parked outside a d one inside being loaded with what appeared to be grain.
Bob Summers Could be. The Garvey family still owns them and operate an industrial park there. Possibly had a vacant one or two available to lease to Gavilon
Jim Merrick Yes, I sure thought so! While several of the flat buildings are warehouses or light factories, this past year (on my daily drives by) I could tell that grain was being handled in several of the flat buildings -- those on the south end of the series.
Jacob Parle The original gallery southwest of the head house still houses open self-propelled tripper belts, however they are only fill belts and not the original full length fill/reclaim belts that were original to the facility. (If interested- attached is the OSHA report on the dust explosion of this facility that shows original layout and details/pictures)
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/grainhandling/geeit/index.html
Bob Summers Question Jacob Parle Did they replace all of the open belt conveyors in the four basement tunnels with enclosed drag or belt conveyors? I remember in the mid '70's we reactivated the far end sections which had been taken out of service sometime in the '60's when there was a great deal of unused grain storage capacity. I was told that was also when the flat storage buildings were transfered to another Garvey entity to create the Garvey Industrial Park. Building #1, the "lean to" along the southwest tanks continued to be part of the elevator. When the need for more grain storage capacity came around 1980 we did lease 2 or 3 of the flat storage buildings after reactivating the overhead drag conveyors from the concrete elevator and the tunnel open belt conveyors to unload the flats. Also, from the Google Earth photos I posted the train shed now just has one track? We had two, both originally had boxcar dumpers as I recall, but in the mid '70's we deactivated the car dumpers in order to put in a faster belt conveyor system for unloading hoppers. Seems now rail receiving is not a factor, so just load hoppers on one track?
Jacob Parle Bob Summers, as I recall from 2 years ago (the last time we had to do millwright work in that facility) All 4 main reclaim tunnels were enclosed belt conveyors. As far as the rail goes, that facility had the ability to receive unit trains, as our millwright crew installed mineral oilers on a Tramco drag-chain conveyor for incoming grain off the rail pit (not sure how much they actually do receive by rail but they have the ability). There is just one set of rails for use in loading/receiving structure. They have a “in-track” scale for weighing hopper cars, and of course the rail receiving pit.
Great knowing past detailed history of the facility, Thanks Bob
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| 2 Bob Summers commented on a post This is what we think of as "massive flat storage" - SW of Wichita near Haysville Kansas. Dennis DeBruler Bob Summers How do they unload the long buildings? Does a front loader put the grain into trucks that then unload at the regular elevator? Bob Summers The buildings like these Garvey put up here and at Salina Kansas have a tunnel with conveyor back to the elevator. We used a big hiloader to push grain to the outlets for final cleanout. Rich Reed If you need massive flat storage then why are so many elevators empty? It cannot be better to store grain flat then in a bin. Bob Summers These flat storage buildings were initially built for government storage when there were large surpluses post WWII through the '50's. Many are now used for other purposes, example at the old Garvey Grain elevator SW of Wichita several are now serving other uses as Garvey Industrial Park. Terminal elevators that cannot receive grain by truck and load 100+ hopper cars are obsolete and out of business. Elevators in the country mostly now load trucks to move grain to area train loading facilities, unless they are on a short line railroad and they have several elevators that combined can load the 100+ hopper cars for the short line to deliver as a unit train or shuttle to the major railroad. You are correct, Rich Reed, there are problems maintaining quality in flat storage and the covered grain piles that are more common today. |
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| Jacob Parle commented on Bob's post Also I happen to have a photo of bin deck looking northeast from the top of the headhouse. Taken roughly 2 years ago. |
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| OSHA, Chapter 2 The elevator complex at the time of the explosion consisted of 246 circular grain silos (often also referred to as tanks or bins) that were 30' in diameter and 120' in height, arranged in a linear array of 3 silos abreast. The 164 star-shaped spaces between the circular silos were also used for grain storage and are known as interstice silos. There were therefore a total of 310 grain storage silos in the elevator. |
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| Bob Summers posted The Garvey family built this half mile long 40 million bushel complex southwest of Wichita in the 1950's. The third generation of the family sold in the 1990's to DeBruce Grain. After major modifications following a catastrophic grain dust explosion this facility is now part of Gavilon Grain. Dean Taton Heard that explosion that morning and I was over 30 mile away! Afterwords, I had the (dis)pleasure of processing 750,000 bu from there. Bob Summers shared Jim Merrick World's biggest capacity!! Bob Summers "Under one headhouse" was our qualifier. There are a few larger, but they have multiple headhouses. Jim Merrick Ah, yes.... Bob Summers Back in the day our gallery men had to ride bicycles to get to the trippers and move them to the next bin a carload would be loaded into. The gallery is the enclosed area on the bin tops, now just to the left of the headhouse. Originally this feature was on the entire elevator. Blake Dickey Bob Summers we still have bikes in the gallery , makes the job way easier with them. One of our gallery men has been at this plant for 45 years. Ross Boelling Dumb question.. so in smaller rural elevators do they have to do anything special when changing commodities in the bins?? Cleaning, sanitizing, fumigating??? I assume they must switch bins from wheat to corn to soybeans to milo as the harvests change. Just curious if it’s a big process or if they just empty a bin or dump new crop on what’s already holding? Thanks. I find this page very informative!! Bob Summers Fair question. Mixed grain has limited value, so yes the bins are emptied before putting in another grain. Flat bottom bins must be scooped and swept. Properly designd hopper bottom binss should be self cleaning. If we found insects in a bin we were emptying we would fumigate the bin before putting grain in again. Keith Higgins Ross Boelling basically just turn the sweep augers on and let them do their work. Bob Summers Keith Higgins no sweeps at this elevator, 30' diameter flat bottoms with side draw discharge. We used power shovels called "Mormon boards" just like were used to scoop boxcars back in the day, except for the largest high volume houses that had car dumpers. Has been about 60 years ago that the covered hopper grain rail cars were introduced- no doubt the biggest single game changer in the grain handling industry! |
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| Kansas Historical Society posted, cropped Ray Garvey of Colby was a wheat farmer and business executive. He developed a cooperative solution to handle the demand for grain storage. Large capacity terminal elevators could hold annual harvests as well as the U.S. government stockpile. These huge elevators weighed, cleaned, stored, treated, and prepared grain for shipping. The nation’s largest terminal elevators are located in Wichita and Hutchinson, Kansas. Original image is from a 1955 postcard and features elevators owned by the C-G Grain Company in Wichita. Terry Klick: I worked at Garvey Grain Co. elevator as a teenager in my hometown of Attica,Kansas back in the 1970's.Back when there would be 5 blocks of trucks to dump.There were 3 elevator pits to take wheat.We filled the bins loaded hopper cars .14 to 15 hrs a day.Massive harvest.Wheat was $4 a bushel.Smallest farm was possibly 800 to 1000 acres.Everywhere was wheat feilds. Had good times working.One summer we dumped 70thousand bushels out of side spouts on 10 thousand bushel bins to make room to take wheat as hopper cars were hard to get.Cleaned up the pile after harvest was over until late July .Recovered all but 500 bushels Olfeld Maschinist shared Sam Andrews: From 1991-2000 on the KSW shortline, 2000-2001 CKRY, 2001-current KOR shortline. This elevator is featured in my book "Ex Santa Fe: Central KS Ry" which includes coverage of the KS Southwestern Ry |
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| Bob Summers commented on Olfeld's share This elevator was extended shortly after the photo in the original post was taken. That view is from the west looking east. The view in the photo with this comment is from the southeast looking northwest taken about 1960 after the upright concrete elevator was extended to approximately 1/2 mile in length (the longest elevator in the world under one head house) and the several flat grain storage annex buildings were added making the total capacity in excess of 40 million bushels. |
Far-Mar-Co
They tore down almost half of the silos. The ones remaining are hex shaped to have more uniform sized bins.
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Bob Summers posted five photos with the comment:
I noticed several years ago when visiting Wichita the former Farmers Commission Co. / Far-Mar-Co / Union Equity Terminal Elevator had been partially razed. The aerial views clearly show that the older elevator, that had round bins, has been demolished except for part of the headhouse - maybe they ran out of money to finish the job. It has been this way a number of years. The newer Chalmers & Borton "hex bin" elevator, which would have been built in the mid '50's or later, is still standing but clearly abandoned. The rail sidings to the facility have been removed. The question then, is why was this facility abandoned? It clearly was well located, adjacent to the rail yards, when virtually all grain was shipped to terminals by rail. However when the railroads phased out the "transit provision" in the rate structure for grain, this location, which is sited between the rail yards, became obsolete because it is virtually inaccessible for the large number of trucks needed to supply a train loading elevator. Most of the terminal elevators that have been abandoned are due to being small facilities with insufficient rail capacity to load unit trains. This particular situation is different. The economic incentive for the railroads was to gain the efficiency of operating with full trainloads from the loading elevator to destination, whether it was wheat from Kansas to the port elevators on the Gulf of Mexico or west coast, or corn from Iowa & Illinois to feedlots in say the Texas panhandle area. For railroaders, this has meant the loss of many jobs that were needed to operate the branch lines, switch cars in the terminal market rail yards, and service the elevators with the inbound loads. What this has caused in our grain handling industry is the building of a few facilities in the country capable of loading full unit trains, and the addition of significantly more storage capacity at neighboring country elevators to hold the grain locally - since they can no longer ship their grain by rail to the terminals pending sale of the grain by the producers. The change has created a lot of jobs for truckers to haul the grain from points of origin to the train loading elevators. The bottom line is the changes made in the last 30 years or so has drastically changed how grain is handled and transported.
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CCGP/General Mills/Red Star Mill
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| Bob Summers posted This is another example of a very early concrete elevator, that likely replaced the original wood elevator that would have serviced the original flour mill here before a new large flour mill was built and a larger elevator to supply the mill. The unique feature of these early concrete elevators is the windows near the top of the bins and the slip continuing to the roof. The conveyor would be on a catwalk above the open topped silos under the roof. These were likely built in the '20's. If anyone has more information regards the builder that used this design please join the conversation and comment. The pictured closed elevator and mill is in Wichita Kansas. Janiece Baum Dixon Great shot- but thought this was still operating? Bob Summers I could be wrong. Think this is the mill that has a large sign for a carpet store nearby that I thought was closed. If someone is using the elevator I am sure they would not still be using the old short bins I am referencing! Dennis DeBruler This appears to be the CCGP elevator: https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4... |
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| Rick Hitchcock posted Looking west, the grain elevator and mill form a complex together at east 17th and north Topeka Ave in Wichita KS. Marc Mcclure This one is the CCGP elevator |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Rick's post I see that is one of a few in the area, https://www.google.com/.../@37.7179703,-97.../data=!3m1!1e3 Marc Mcclure A bunch! The Ardent Mills complex at one time was one of the largest mills in the US. |
Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:
I am the curious type, and this little old slip form elevator with the windows near the top of the slip has intrigued me since I first noticed it adjacent to the now CCCG Terminal and no longer operating flour mill in Wichita Kansas. From the signage in the last photo it looks like General Mills had acquired the former Red Star Mill which I think likely once had a small mill with the little old slip form elevator. The old water tower for the original mill survives. Anyone with more information on this facility please comment.Bob Summers
Did more research and found a 1918 date on the original concrete short bin elevator likely attached to an earlier wooden elevator and mill, 1908 image attached to a reply to an inquiry on the last photo, which I found in Kansas Memories from the Kansas Historical Society. The two aerial views are from Google Earth. The first photo is one I took last summer. The original concrete tanks would have been attached to the original wood elevator and mill between the newer small mill on the right in the last image. When General Mills acquired Red Star in the early '20's it looks like they built a new mill and elevator just west, and connected to the old elevator with a conveyor gallery added to the top of the original. Still looking for information as to the construction company that built slip form bins with windows near the top and the conveyor under the roof, usually associated with early flour mills. |
| 1 David Budka Here you can see the remains of the conveyor gallery that ran to the Star Mill. |
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| 2 David Budka Looks like the Star Mill and it’s warehouse is gone in this picture.David Budka Looks like the elevated tank of the water tower is floating in the air! |
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| 4 Jim Merrick Classic north Wichita! Do you have a date on this pic, Bob? David Budka I see a conveyor gallery running to the larger mill in this picture. The Star Mill is to the right. David Budka You can see the conveyor gallery to the old Star Mill has already been removed. Bob Summers The original wood elevator and mill would have been in the area between |
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| Bob commented on Jim's comment on the fourth photo above, cropped Bob Summers The photo you asked about is from Kansas Memories, Kansas Historical Society and shows a date 1950 - 1959. I used it for the signage. It apparently was shot from the roof of a headhouse on another elevator. Doing further research I found this photo dated 1908 that predates the first concrete elevator. |
Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:
Four photos of a closed flour mill in Wichita Kansas. The third photo is the earliest showing the original Red Star Mill and an adjacent wood elevator. Sometime later, probably about 1910, the wood elevator was replaced by a concrete elevator, common for the time with the top conveyor below the roof of the bins. I think about 1920 General Mills bought the Red Star Flour Mill, and built the large concrete elevator and mill seen in the first and last photos. The mill has been closed over 30 years, but the large concrete elevator is still in use.
David Budka At one time they had a four mill complex on this site!
Bob Summers My research, David Budka, uncovered a number of early mills just south across the street from this one along the railroad for about a mile or so. On this, the north side, I just found the Red Star Mill & Elevator Co, which was acquired by General Mills, and the Watson Flour Mill a couple of blocks to the northeast by another still standing abandoned early concrete elevator with windows near the top of the bin walls - indicating the conveyor was below the roof. To the south, the present Ardent Mill has multiple differt structures, as does the Cargill Soybean plant further south, which are evidence of the several early flour mills you referenced. If I am missing something, or you have further information, please share.
David Budka I looked up the history of Red Star Mills and on one website it showed them as having four mills. Of course the largest being the newest. I think it was a postcard showing all four mills. I think your pictures show three of the four mills.
Bob Summers David Budka could be. I think the oldest picture I posted with the wood elevator shows a mill that was probably just at the end of the concrete elevator when it was built. It looks to me like that mill was no longer there, and another replaced it as seen to the right of the little concrete elevator, which by the time of the photos I found was attached by an overhead conveyor to the new larger elevator and mill that General Mills built after they acquired Red Star. General Mills continued to mill both the Red Star brand and General Mills brands of flour. If you have a picture of a fourth mill I would like to see it. Of course, fires were common in the early wooden flour mills, so they might have rebuilt one or more that burned down back in the day.
Dennis DeBruler It looks like it is today's CCGP:
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
Bob Summers Yes, CCGP operates the elevator Dennis DeBruler. In my reply to David Budka last evening my recall was in error where Ardent Mill and Cargill Soybean Processing are in relation to this old General Mills facility. They are about a mile south, not just across the street. Also the old Watson Mill is southeast, not northeast, of this site. The old Consolidated Mill which is gone, but the elevator is still in use as Mid Kansas Co-op is just a few block north east. In any case, a lot of flour milling history in Wichita Kansas.
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Bob Summers posted five photos with the comment: "Wichita Kansas - thanks again to Sam Andrews, my go-to guy in Wichita for filling in some blanks for me on this one. Red Star mill started in 1905 with a small slip form concrete elevator and flour mill. These little early slip form elevators were intriguing to me until I learned they were built like early annexes on wood elevators, with the conveyor to fill the bin’s suspended below the bin tops. This small facility became Red Star’s mill and elevator “A” after they acquired the neighboring former Watson Mill in 1913. In 1921 Red Star built a new large mill and elevator, designated “C.” Note the large full sized head house for the grain cleaning equipment. The set of four bins between the tall head house and the mill building were the only grain storage, aside from the small elevator on mill “A” (seen in the last old photo) - until General Mills purchased Red Star in 1928 and built the large annex. The original old water tower for the mill is interesting. General Mills closed their flour mill in Wichita in 1966, along with several others, to consolidate their flour milling operations. I believe that after the government wound down the need for space for surplus grain this facility was idle, except for a few short periods when grain storage space was needed. I remember being in this elevator in the mid ‘90’s when it was being used for a few years, and was surprised to see they still had the original open electric motors powering the conveyors in the gallery. My 2008 Kansas Grain Elevator lists it as CCGP (a joint venture between the Cairo Co-op and the Garden Plain Co-op) with a capacity of two million bushels. It is not listed in my new 2023 Kansas Grain Elevator Directory. It is difficult to photograph all views of elevators in urban industrial areas without other industry, trucks or railcars obscuring the view of the elevator. Current photos taken June 2023. 1940 N. Topeka just west of the BNSF railroad and north of 17th."
David Budka: In the mill I work at, the five one time storage bins are now grinding bins. Blended wheat is transferred to the grinding bins from the elevator. I was recently told the interstice bin was once used to store lower protein wheat for further corrections.
The Ponca City, Oklahoma mill has a similar layout.
I wonder if having a series of grinding bins became a practice as mills and elevators expanded? That way, the mill had different blends of wheat “on hand” to meet customer’s needs.
I wonder if they had to empty those bins completely in order not to cross contaminate different products? That would affect the performance of a given flour.
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| Steve Boyko posted, cropped I bought this tiny print from an antique store. It has no caption information. Can anyone identify which grain elevator this is? Bob Summers Actually Steve Boyko, this is the former General Mills Elevator and flour mill in Wichita Kansas. The small dark structure seen towards the left is the original concrete elevator built on that complex by the Red Star Flour Mill before General Mills bought Red Star. The elevators are still in use as CCGP, the mill has been closed several decades now. Nice to see an early shot with the boxcars and little other industrial development cluttering the view! Good find, thanks for sharing. David Budka Did you know Marjorie Merriweather Post owned General Mills and Post? [This photo is a reminder that grain used to be shipped in boxcars.] |
Beachner/Pillsbury's
This is in the middle-right part of the above 3D Satellite image.
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| Rich Hitchcok posted We have a unique grain elevator in Wichita KS, and I shot this view from east 19th and north Santa Fe streets. The art on it was okayed by whomever the owner is and is quite a sensation, now. From an aerial drone view, it is easier to view. Marc Mcclure I should have paid attention to your address. This now a Beachner Grain location. I think at one time this may have been the Zimmerman mill. |
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| McKinsey Wholer, Oct 2018 |
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| McKinsey Wholer, Oct 2018 |
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| Dale S. LeBar, Dec 2018 |
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| Leah Blankley posted Not old or a good picture, but located in Wichita, KS. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Leah's post | Since it was painted in 2018, this shows that Google Map satellite images can be rather old. https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0... |
Bob Summers posted four photos with the comment:
Beachner Grain Terminal in Wichita is well known for the mural. I do not recall what firm was operating this facility in the '70's & '80's when I was involved in the grain business in Wichita, but with a little research and finding file photos learned it was a Pillsbury elevator back in the day. Also the train shed with four rail sidings is interesting. Anyone with more information on this elevator, please comment.Danny Farnsworth In the third picture? You can see the transfer table at the north end. It only carried one car.
Bob Summers Our terminal built in about 1920 in Hutchinson was fairly typical for the time. Our train shed has 2 tracks, the one next to the elevator was the only one we could scoop the boxcars to empty them, so we called that one the "house track" The other track we called the "back track" in that cars could be loaded back on that siding. Actually we could load cars on both tracks, but just unload on the house track. Larger elevators had car dumpers that tilted and tipped boxcars to unload them without personel needing to actually be in the boxcar, I think only 2 of the 12 terminals in Hutchinson were equiped with dumpers. I do not recall that any had a "transfer table"
Danny Farnsworth At one time there was a car dumper in-between the elevators in the middle of the now UP yard in wichita.
Bob Summers Do not know the rail roads there. Are you referring to the old Far-Mar-Co / Union Equity terminal, half which has been torn down?
Jim Merrick Bob, I'm sure he is. The yard to the west was Rock Island's Cline Yard, and the east complex was the Missouri Pacific -- it's all UP now.
There was one track that ran in between the two elevators.
Bob Summers Referring to Danny Farnsworth second comment in this string, we used to occassionally do "direct transfers" for the railroads. Sometimes because a boxcar or hopper car was leaking, and sometimes when the railroad weighed cars on their track scales and found a car to be overloaded and needed to have the excess weight removed. Either way this meant the elevator had to unload the car to weigh the grain, then load it back, often into the same car unless the leak was due to a problem with the railcar. Most leaks from a boxcar were due to coopering issues with the door liner inside the box car door. Other times we on occassion had to unload a car we had just loaded when after grain inspection graded the carlot it was determined that the specified quality called for in the sale or loading order had not been met, usually this situation came up if shipping to a flour mill.
Dennis DeBruler Transfer tables were common next to backshop buildings in railroad yards. But most of those buildings have been torn down. There is one remaining in Logansport, IN, and I was able to catch them using the table. This link should take you to the best view of the table moving.
https://youtu.be/DgwC4b_JuAg?t=131
Linda Laird My database shows that it was originally built for Pillsbury in 1929, constructed by The Barnett & Record Co of Minneapolis. The designer was Max Lehman who also oversaw the building of a Pillsbury elevator in Atchison.
Linda Laird Cost was $700,000. A lot of money in 1929, it would be $10,510,602.34 today. Barnett & Record had been building elevators since at least 1900. In 1929 they were constructing a 1.2M bushel elevator at Great Falls, a 2M bushel elevator at Enid OK and a 500K bushel elevator at Oklahoma City. Not a small firm by any means! Their success must have encouraged Chalmers & Borton of Hutchinson who were just beginning to build elevators.
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| Danny Farnsworth commented on his comment on Bob's post Here is a picture at ground level. The transfer table is now at the A.S.& V. Bob Summers What is the "A.S.&V"? Danny Farnsworth Abilene and Smoky Valley. They have an operational ATSF 4-6-2!! |
Cargill Soybean Processing
Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment: "Wichita Kansas - Cargill elevator and soybean processing plant."
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Old Stone Elevator
Linda Laird posted two photos with the comment:
This is a long post about an 1870s stone elevator in Wichita KS. Enjoy!
In May 1874 David Sterrett Shellabarger and his cousin William Bowers arrived in Wichita from Decatur, Illinois to look over prospects for building a mill and to find local partners. They quite likely stopped in Topeka to discuss the venture with David’s older brother, Joseph Shellabarger, whose Shawnee Mills were going well. The Shellabarger would become influential and progressive milling owners in KS, with early mills in Topeka, Salina and Wichita.
William Bowers, a native of Pennsylvania, learned the mill trade and migrated to Ohio where he ran a water-powered mill after serving in the Civil War. He soon moved his family to Decatur, Illinois where he became a partner in the Shellabarger mill. He was the manufacturing expert while Shellabarger tended to finances. Both found Wichitans supportive of their project.
Shellabarger also brought Albert W. Oliver to Wichita from Decatur. Oliver and his brothers were in the lumber business, and it was clear that lumber would have to be shipped by rail to Kansas, since there were very few trees on the prairie. Their expansion was funded by David’s uncle Isaac Shellabarger. Albert Oliver had been in Topeka in 1871 looking over grain and lumber opportunities. By the next year he moved to Wichita where he and his brothers, Mark J. and Frank, started a wholesale lumber business that eventually included yards in eight South Central Kansas communities. He was elected as the first president of the Wichita Board of Trade in 1877 and became one of the “big four” in Wichita business.
The two men from Illinois persuaded another co-worker, Hiram Imboden, who was only 22 but well trained and experienced as a miller, to move to Wichita, oversee the construction of the new mill and continue as head miller. Imboden arrived on August 1, 1874 with the machinery, only to find himself engulfed by a grasshopper plague that arrived in swarms so deep that trains could not gain traction on tracks. They wiped out crops, ate the wool off sheep and clothing off settlers’ backs.
Not deterred, Imboden got to work. He was joined by George F. Hargis, another young miller from Decatur, who had wed Shellabarger’s sister. They imported stone from Florence, shipped to Wichita on the AT&SF. The 40-by-100 feet, four-story high mill, built entirely of stone, housed four pairs of French buhrs and was capable of producing 100 barrels of flour per day. The stone elevator with a metal roof had a storage capacity of 40,000 bushels. The cost was $75,000, over $1.5 million in today’s dollars. The two men had the Wichita City Mills up and running by the fall of 1874.
The first year, because of the grasshopper infestation, all the flour was produced from wheat imported from eastern states. What little wheat was salvaged locally was stored for seed. The next year approximately a half million bushels of wheat was harvested and Wichita was a booming railhead for shipping wheat. The large stone mill and elevator continued to operate for a quarter of a century as we can see in the 1890 photo. For you Wichitans, notice the Lassen Hotel, still standing, to the left. The elevator was deemed obsolete and torn down in 1899, perhaps because there was no way to expand the stone elevator. Hargis eventually moved south to establish his own mill in Wellington, later retiring at an early age and returning to Decatur. ----from my someday to be published book about KS grain elevators.
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Combinations
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| Jerry Krug posted Scene at Wichita, KS taken June 26, 2016. I will appreciate any information about history/names of these two elevators. Bob Summers Elevator on the left is the former terminal elevator for Pillsbury, now owned by Beachner Grain and has a large mural painted on it. On the right is the former General Mills mill and elevator. The mill has long been closed. The elevator is a joint venture of the Garden Plaine and Cairo Kansas Co-ops and goes by CCGP I think. You can see a small dark structure next to the headhouse which was the original concrete elevator for the Red Star mill before it was purchased by General Mills. Linda Laird Pillsbury Flour Mills Co built the elevator on the left in 1929 at a cost of $700.000, capacity 2,097,000 bu. It was designed by Max Lehman, MN. I've got his obit somewhere if you want it. Construction was by The Barnett & Record Company of Minneapolis. Linda Laird I've got a lot of fun documentation on Red Star Mill if you want to message me. For instance, a 2M candlepower search lightwith a three foot mirror was placed atop the elevator in 1926, cost $5,000, weighed over one ton. Removed and donated to K-State engineering dept for experiments because of railroad engineers and motorists complaints in 1941. |
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