"They serve as a monument to a bygone era... waiting for… freighters that no longer come."
Grain Elevators, A History (website)
The first grain elevator was built in Buffalo, New York, by Joseph Dart in 1842. Dart was a retail merchant who had seen Buffalo boom since the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, linking the Midwest to New York. Initially grain was loaded and unloaded by hand, a back- breaking job that took several days. To overcome this problem Dart built the first wooden grain elevator.
The elevator consisted of a large wooden structure that served as a storage bin for the grain, to which a steam-driven belt with buckets was attached. The belt could be maneuvered into the hold of cargo vessels and activated, whereupon the buckets would scoop up the grain and deposit it into the storage bins.
The elevator allowed ships to be unloaded at a rate of over 1,000 bushels (35,000 liters) per hour, leading to ships docking, unloading, and departing all within the same day. The elevator was also an ideal store for grain as it was cool, dry, and free of pests that could endanger the crop. The only, risk was from fire in the wooden elevator since grain dust is highly flammable.
Joseph Dart claimed not to be the, inventor of the elevator, saying instead that he had based his designs entirely on those of Oliver Evans. In the 1780s Evans had designed the principles for moving and storing grain using a conveyor fitted with buckets, although his invention was intended for use in flour mills.
