Virden Hargrave Pool: An elevator one mile northwest of Virden was built between 1977 and 1978 by Manitoba Pool, replacing a smaller elevator in town. The 110,000-bushel facility was one of the first modern “high-throughput” composite designs, featuring twin metal legs, a digital scale, and exposed spouts on top. Dubbed “Virden Hargrave” for the area it would serve, the elevator was barely 24 years old when it was closed by Agricore United in February 2002, then used for private grain storage until around 2013.
Photo: Supplied
Ste. Anne UGG: A 35,000-bushel elevator at Ste. Anne was built by McCabe Grain in 1937 and expanded with a temporary annex in 1951. Sold to United Grain Growers in March 1968, a 78,000-bushel crib annex was built beside it in 1972. Closed in January 2001 a few months before the merger of UGG with Agricore, the elevator was demolished later that year.
Photo: George Penner
Selkirk Pool: A 40,000-bushel Manitoba Pool elevator at Selkirk opened in mid-August 1948. Fully renovated in 1971, a 100,000-bushel crib annex (at left in this 1999 photo) was built beside it in 1976, supplementing a 50,000-bushel balloon annex (at right) from 1953. Closed by Agricore in October 2000, the facility was demolished in early April 2002.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
Roblin Pool: The first Pool elevator in Manitoba was built in 1925 at Roblin. In 1968, an 18-bin crib annex was built beside it to replace a balloon annex. Demolished in May 1986, the Pool C elevator (built in 1951 next to Pool B) was moved to this site, beside the crib annex, and fully renovated with a digital scale and twin legs. Two steel tanks were added in the late 1980s or early 1990s. It was the last wooden elevator in Roblin, the right elevator belonging to Cargill having been demolished in July 1998. Pool No. 1 was demolished in August 1999 following the opening of a concrete elevator built nearby as a joint project between Manitoba Pool and Pioneer Grain.
Photo: George Penner
Altona Pool: This elevator at Altona was built in 1951 by Lake of the Woods Milling Company. Purchased by Manitoba Pool in 1959, it was the Pool B elevator until early 1965 when Pool’s A elevator was moved to Plum Coulee. Crib annexes were built on each side of it in 1967 and 1969, and the elevator was fully renovated in 1970. Closed by Agricore in 2001, the elevator was demolished.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
In the 1950s, there were over 700 grain elevators in Manitoba. Today, there are fewer than 200. You can help to preserve the legacy of these disappearing “Prairie sentinels.”
The Manitoba Historical Society (MHS) is gathering information about all elevators that ever stood in Manitoba, regardless of their present status. Collaborating with the Manitoba Co-operator it is supplying these images of a grain elevator each week in hopes readers will be able to tell the society more about it, or any other elevator they know of.
MHS Gordon Goldsborough webmaster and Journal editor has developed a website to post your replies to a series of questions about elevators. The MHS is interested in all grain elevators that have served the farm community.
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Your contributions will help gather historical information such as present status of elevators, names of companies, owners and agents, rail lines, year elevators were built — and dates when they were torn down (if applicable).
There is room on the website to post personal recollections and stories related to grain elevators. The MHS presently also has only a partial list of all elevators that have been demolished. You can help by updating that list if you know of one not included on that list.
Your contributions are greatly appreciated and will help the MHS develop a comprehensive, searchable database to preserve the farm community’s collective knowledge of what was once a vast network of grain elevators across Manitoba.
Please contribute to This Old Grain Elevator website here.
You will receive a response, by email or phone call, confirming that your submission was received.
Goldsborough is interested in hearing all sorts of experiences about the elevators — funny, sad, or anything in between. Readers willing to share their stories can leave messages at 204-474-7469.
