HomeMy WebLinkAboutMISCOGrainElevator 07
-��`MONTANA~HISTORICAL/ARCHITECTURAL INVENTORY #26 _
- 4 3 ?`
-. H.T=RIC NAME: -MIS00 Grain Elevator
ADDRESS: 700 N. Wallace, Bozeman
LEGAL BOUNDARY: A square of land locateda4: -
_ - at the intersection of Cottonwood
-7 --sand N. Wallace and measuring 200' by
200' . South boundary is right-of-way
_-_ of Cottonwood St. and west boundary
is right-of-way of N. Wallace Ave.
OWNER'S NAME: Burlington Northern RR F
OWNER ADDRESS: P.O. Box 943, Ft. Worth, -
Texas 76101
SPECIFIC DATE: 1933 - w - _
-- _ -
ARCHITECT: _ unknown ? � �
BUILDER: unknown
ORIGINAL OWNER: Missoula Mercantile Co.
ORIGINAL USE: grain elevator • �jr:�:- -_=`�__- -
PRESENT USE: feed mixing plant A —
UTM REFERENCE: 12/497900/5059100 - -
- ACREAGE: less than one } -
U.S.G.S. QUAD: Bozeman, 1953 -
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: -
Applicable Criteria: A and C - - -
Areas of Significance: agriculture, architecture -
Number of Contributing Properties: 1 - -- _
The MISCO Grain Elevator, located in the northeastern corner of the city of Bozeman,
-adjacent to the Bon Ton Flour Mill (not eligible due to alteration) and the Northern
Pacific Railroad line, is an architecturally significant example of wooden cribbed grain
elevator construction. The warehouse portion of the present building was added a year or
two after the construction of the elevator in 1933. - Built by the Missoula Mercantile Co. , ,
a regionally important commercial enterprise that had gained considerable influence in the
Montana grain marketing system by the 1930's, the elevator is one of a very few to be
constructed during the Depression years between Minneapolis and Seattle. The construction
techniques employed in the building of the MISCO elevator are typical of many Montana
elevators of the period from the late-1880's through the 1950's. Although the innovation
of concrete elevator construction had been developed by Frank Peavey in the 1890's, the
majority of grain elevators in Montana and North Dakota were still being built with wood
after the Second World War due to the ready availability of materials and the low initial
costs. A study done in 1959 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that approximately
96% of the storage elevators erected in Montana before 1941 were wooden cribbed structures.
During the 1940's and 1950's, 63% of the storage elevators built were wooden cribbed, 29%
steel, and only 8 concrete.
The agricultural productivity of the Gallatin Valley farms was always an important factor
in the prosperity of the city of Bozeman. The MISCO elevator physically represents the
link between the outlying farms and the commerce of the city, the preferred shipping point
for most of the grain produced in the region. During the 19th Century, most of the locally
grown grain was used by local millers. It was not until 1907 that any surplus of hard
milling wheat was available for shipment to markets outside of Montana. By 1912, Bozeman
had 12 grain elevators in operation, with a combined capacity of 600,000 bushels, which
•_represented almost half of all the grain cleaning, storing, and handling for the entire
..=County. By 1920, Bozeman's total of 17 elevators had a storage capacity of 2,000,000
bushels. .- -- -
-- The MISCO grain elevator, although one of the later elevators to be constructed in Bozeman,-
is the best representative example of the architectural type remaining in the city. The
elevator was constructed in 1933 when a man named Walter Teslow was the eastern division
manager for the Missoula Mercantile Co. Teslow had been in the grain business in the
Gallatin Valley prior to the Depression and was no doubt influential in the decision to
construct this new, competing elevator in Bozeman. When Teslow quit working for the
Missoula Mercantile in 1946, he returned to the grain business and operated a number of
independent elevators. A decade later, when the Missoula Mercantile decided to get out of
grain handling, Teslow, bought the MISCO elevator, which he operated with his 17 other
elevators in Montana and Idaho. In 1966, Teslow sold this elevator to the Peavey Co. , a
Minneapolis-based corporation, which maintained about 30 elevators in Montana. The
elevator was purchased in 1973 by Eric Anderson and is being used to mix a mineral feed
supplement and a portion of the warehouse is leased as a music recording studio.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
The MISCO grain elevator is composed of a ca. five-story elevator section and a one-story,
gable roof warehouse. The elevator was built according to typical construction practices
of the historic period. Concrete piers support both sections of the building. Cribbed
walls are 2" x 6" dimension lumber stacked to form the elevator walls up to the shoulders,
then 2" x 4" lumber is used to the top. A shed roofed loading ramp is located on the west
side of the elevator. The portion of the structure housing the agent's office has six-
over-six double hung windows. The windows of the frame warehouse are 4-pane fixed lights
set up near the eave line. The roof of the entire structure is covered with galvanized
metal. The walls are a narrow reveal, bevel siding with decorative metal corner covers.
The elevator and warehouse retain a high degree of historic architectural integrity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: -- -
Brown, Dwayne, "A Survey, Documentation of the Grain Elevator at700 North Wallace, "
Seminar paper, Montana State University, Bozeman, March, 1983.
Benepe, Frank L. Grain Elevato ,G of Gallra-,n County, published in "The Coast, " June, 1908.
Yager, Francis, , USDA Report #64, July, 1959.
FORM PREPARED BY: Patricia Bick, 1987, State Historic Preservation Office, 225 No. Roberts,
Helena, Montana 59620 (406) 444-7715