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 MISCO Grain Elevator - Bozeman, MT Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 45° 41.213 W 111° 01.694
12T E 497801 N 5059259
Built at the height of the Great Depression, this is one the very few grain elevators to have been built at that time.
Waymark Code: WMWDDZ
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 08/18/2017
Views: 1
We have sighted, and Waymarked, a goodly number of grain elevators in a number of states and provinces, but we believe this may be the first that is a National Register place. Built in 1933, it follows the tried and true form and style of hundreds that had gone before, even though concrete elevators had begun to appear in farming towns in the 1920s. As a result it looks exactly like the wood cribbed elevators of the teens and '20s.
Though there was no signage on the building when we visited, we can say that at least part of the building has been converted to Misco Mill flat, a 1500 square foot motel style accommodation which sleeps six for around $225 per night. If you've never slept in an elevator, here's your chance!!!
The majority of the elevator and adjoining warehouse have been converted to a gallery, Misco Mill Gallery, which showcases furniture, paintings, sculpture, light fixtures, and jewelry. Much of the furniture, sculpture and light fixtures incorporate locally-sourced and recycled materials. These are combined with contemporary design and solid construction to give a lasting work of art that tells a story.
MISCO GRAIN ELEVATOR
Gallatin County boasted twenty-seven grain elevators in 1915, a testament to farming’s important economic role. Despite drought and low commodity prices, Montana Mercantile added this towering elevator to the Bozeman skyline in 1933. It added the warehouse portion a few years later. Situated next to the train tracks and the Bon Ton Flour Mill, the elevator expressed the wholesaler’s faith in Montana’s agricultural future. The building was one of very few grain elevators constructed during the Great Depression between Minneapolis and Seattle. Concrete elevators had become increasingly popular after 1920, but the wooden MISCO grain elevator was built using a much older “crib technique.” To create walls strong enough to resist the pressure of thousands of tons of grain, carpenters stacked planks two inches tall and six inches wide, joining them with spikes and overlapping them at the corners. Narrower two-by-fours were used above the shoulder. Large sliding doors let farmers drive loaded trucks onto a scale above the “boot,” where they dumped their harvest. A vertical belt and bucket conveyor would then lift the grain up to the cupola (or head house), from where it traveled to a storage bin. There it remained until elevator operators loaded it into railway freight cars for shipment out of state. In 1956, the Missoula Mercantile sold the elevator to businessman Walter Teslow. When the elevator was built, Teslow oversaw its construction as the manager of Missoula Mercantile’s eastern division. By 1956, he had his own business, operating eighteen grain elevators across the state.
From the NRHP plaque at the building
Describe the area and history:
The marker describes the elevator in front of which it stands. Across the street, as well as to the elevator's north, is a historic district, the Bozeman Brewery Historic District.
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