Feed Mill: (Satellite)
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| Andrew Waldo posted Milstadt, Illinois: Passenger & Freight Station, Mobile & Ohio Railroad. The M&O Passenger & Freight Station at Milstadt, on the very short Milstadt Branch, was estimated as having been built in about 1876. The photograph was taken on 6 June 1916. Credit: National Archives & Records Administration, ICC Engineering Field Notes, Mobile & Ohio Railroad, Illinois. Digital Image Collection of Andrew Waldo. Fine prints from high resolution copies of the scans are available for purchase in various sizes. Dede Brinkmann: Is the location of the Millstadt food pantry now? Ruth Ann Saul Mueller: Dede Brinkmann yes [When I searched for the food pantry, Google Maps offered Millstadt Community Center.] |
At first the depot up by Madison Street didn't make sense because this map shows that M&O branch went through town on Elm Street and terminated at a strip mine.
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| 1954/59 Quad @ 24,000 |
After I read the comments by Dede and Ruth, I took a closer look at this map and found the spur that went up along Breese Street to Washington Street. And this map answers why the feed mill was too blocks north of the elevators down by Elm Street. Specifically, it had its own spur off the spur.
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| 1913/13 Waterloo Quad @ 62,500 |
But I could not reconcile the map with the photo with the food pantry, so I got an old aerial photo. Washington Street is along the top, and Jefferson Street is along the left side. I still can't figure it out, but I think the depot was within a block of Madison and Breese Streets.
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| 1940 Aerial Photo from IHLAP |
I had gotten the 1913 map to determine how the Millstadt Branch connected to the M&O. The junction is north of Columbia where the M&O uses a valley to get through the river bluff.
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| 1913/13 Waterloo Quad @ 62,500 |
While looking for the depot's location, I discovered these old grain elevators.
The mill on the left (west side) and the storage elevator on the right are gone, but the feed mill in the distant background still stands.
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| Street View, Jul 2013 |
The feed mill looks like two traditional elevators that were connected.
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| Street View, Jun 2026 |
And there was another traditional elevator north of what we see above. And the red brick indicates that there was another building on this side.
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| Street View, Jun 2026 |
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| Photo, Jun 2024 |
We know it was still operational in 2024 because it is loading a Purina feed truck.
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| Photo, Jun 2024 |
The spur to the depot explains the little smudge near the end of the Millstadt Branch. Today, all of these GM&O and IC routes have been abandoned, not just the Millstadt Branch.
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| rail.guide |
I zoomed out on the aerial photo so that we can see what the strip mine looked like in 1940.
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| 1940 Aerial Photo from IHLAP |
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