No, the elevator didn't collapse or blow over, but it did experience a few tense moments in February of 2017. The year prior the roof was blown off by a strong wind and in February a new roof was ready to be put in place. This was part of a project to save the 1906 building while working out what to do with the historic old structure. On the day chosen on which to hoist the roof onto the building, the wind was a bit stronger than anticipated, creating more than a little angst on the part of the participants. See further details below.
Just a year earlier, in February of 2016, the elevator was scheduled for demolition but at the eleventh hour a grassroots preservation group, the
Montana Preservation Alliance, Team Teslow, stepped up and pulled together the finances to buy and save the building. For its efforts the group won the 2017 Montana State Preservation Office award for Outstanding Preservation Advocacy. Though more restoration work is ongoing, a decision on exactly what will be done with the building is yet to be made.
While built by Billy Miles in 1906 and having passed through several hands, it was the ownership of Walter and Dick Teslow, from 1952 to 1971, that has given the elevator the common name by which it is known today. That is certainly because the Teslows, though possibly not the last to operate the elevator, the name,
TESLOW remains emblazoned on its sides.
Finally a well deserved listing on the National Register came about on September 23, 2020. As yet, the Billy Miles & Bros. Grain Elevator doesn't appear on the nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com website.
Text from the Montana Historical Society plaque follows.
Billy Miles & Bros. Grain Elevator
In 1882, Billy Miles opened a livery and sale stable on lower Main Street. Among his customers were the Northern Pacific stockyards, Yellowstone National Park, and the British army. In 1906, Billy and his brothers, Tom and Boyd, constructed this 75,000-bushel grain elevator. It is one of two such structures built in Livingston to store the wagonloads—and later truckloads—of wheat harvested by area farmers. To support the weight and pressure of the grain within, the elevator’s lower stories were built of heavy timbers and “cribbed” (or stacked) lumber. Metal sheeting protected the structure from both weather and from stray sparks thrown off by passing trains. Originally a “chop house” for producing feed also stood at the building’s northeast end. When farmers delivered their grain, it was weighed and unloaded into the area under the elevator. The grain moved up to the headhouse via the “legs”—three vertical belt-and-bucket conveyor belts encased in wooden shafts. From there, operators would send the grain back down chutes into one of the many reinforced bins on the lower levels. When markets were favorable, the grain was loaded onto railcars for shipment to national and international markets. The grain elevator has had several owners over the years, including Walter and Dick Teslow (1952-1971), whose ghost sign still announces their products: “Grain, Seed, Feed, and Hay.” After ceasing operation in 2000, the elevator came under threat of demolition. In response, in 2016, the local community rallied to “Save the Teslow,” preserving it for future generations.
Billy Miles & Bros. Grain Elevator
The 1906 Billy Miles & Bros. Grain Elevator (commonly referred to as the Teslow Grain Elevator) was an active part of agricultural economy in Livingston throughout the 20th century. Built at the east end of the town’s railroad district, the elevator served as a shipment point for agricultural production in the area for over 100 years, linking grain producers from the surrounding farming region with outside markets.
The wooden Billy Miles & Bros. Grain Elevator represents a century of agricultural history and a building type fast disappearing from the plains and grain growing states across North America. In Montana alone, there were once well over 400 such elevators in active use. Today that number has been dramatically reduced. As a well-preserved elevator that symbolizes that history and the economic importance of agriculture and railroad transportation in the history of the town, the Billy Miles & Bros. Grain Elevator holds historic significance and qualifies for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A.
Further, the Billy Miles & Bros. Grain Elevator is an intact, well preserved example of the iron-clad wooden elevator constructed throughout Montana and the plains of North America during the first half of the 20th century. For this reason, it stands as an example of a structural building type of historical importance and lends eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C.
The Period of Significance begins in 1906, with the construction of the grain elevator, and ends in 1971, when Walter and Dick Teslow, the last of the long-term owners, sold to the Peavey Company, an elevator company based in Minnesota. Significant dates include the year the elevator was constructed, 1906, the year 1918, when Gary Hay and Grain Company purchased the holdings of Bill Miles & Brother, and 1952 when the Teslows purchased the elevator.
From the NRHP Registration Form