PIERCEVILLE HISTORY

A part of the records of Garden City Co-op have been lost or misplaced, particularly a portion of the minutes of Board actions, covering the years preceding and following the activation of the Pierceville Elevator. If the Board minute book were available, no doubt, this feature would contain a recitation of events which led to the creation of the Pierceville branch of the Garden City Co-op.

The record here came as the result of personal visits Manager Bob Blackwell had with long-time members living in the Pierceville area. The audit report for the fiscal year ending April 1932, reveal a nine months’ depreciation allowance was taken, so apparently it was in operation by the middle of 1931.

The original installation was an 18,000 bushel frame elevator with a 10’ x 20’ scale house purchased for $12,519. This was the first of several country elevators to be purchased by the Co-op. In 1953, two 3,500 gallon tanks for tractor fuel and diesel fuel were built, providing petroleum service for the first time. The growing demands for commercial livestock feeds prompted the erection of a 24’ x 60’ Butler building in 1951.

The 1950’s saw facility enlargement of Garden City Co-op on every front. The short crops of earlier years gave way to better crop years and short storage space. In 1955, the first concrete storage bins were constructed. The 510,000 bushel concrete elevator was finished in June 1956 in ample time to receive that wheat crop. Wet milo crops prompted the installation of a 400 bushel per-hour grain dryer in 1958.

In 1975, additional storage was added to the existing elevator at Pierceville. The addition was 582,000 bushels capacity bringing the total capacity to 1,092,000 bushels. A new dryer and leg were also installed.

In 1999, an additional storage capacity of 460,000 bushels was added to the Pierceville Elevator. Today, the total licensed storage capacity of grain at Pierceville is 1,621,000 bushels.