Ding, ding! Going up … Oh, not that kind of elevator? An “elevator” in the country is different from an “elevator” in the city. Almost every town in Nebraska had a grain elevator at one time–right next to the train tracks. The railroads brought the farmers to the plains, then the farmers grew crops and brought grain to the railroads to be shipped back. But it had to be stored somewhere while waiting for transportation.
Elevators were originally built to store and move grain from docks into ships, but they worked just as well with trains. The mechanized “elevator” that moved the grain up and into silos sometimes used buckets and sometimes conveyor belts. Some towns had multiple elevators. The
grain elevator pictured to the left was likely built by Seely, Son and Company of Fremont, Nebraska (
Keene Memorial Library Collection). The picture to the right shows another elevator in Fremont,
J.F. Dierks and Son.
Elevator buildings might be plain or fancy, but they were originally all built of wood. The simple
grain elevator to the left was outside of Omaha (
Omaha Public Library Collection). Sometimes a company would combine its elevator with a mill to grind the grain before it was shipped. At the right is an illustration of such a company advertising its services with a New Year’s postcard from the
A.W. Clarke Grain and Ground Feed in Papillion (
Sarpy County Historical Museum Collection).
Additional images of grain elevators from towns around the state can be found in Nebraska Memories. Visit
Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials. You can also find pictures of buildings with the other kinds of elevators, too!
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see
Nebraska Memories Participation for more information, or contact
Beth Goble, Historical Services Librarian, or
Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
