Out And About- J.H.Hawes Grain Elevator Museum

    On our many road trips along I-55, I would see a small sign near Atlanta, Illinois for the J.H.Hawes Grain Elevator Museum. It piqued my interest and finally after quite a few years, Geoffrey and I made a day trip to go see it last August. The elevator operated from 1903 to 1976. In 1988 the community decided to preserve it as a reminder of their agricultural past. Since 1991, the Hawes Elevator has been on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the few wooden grain elevators left in the U.S.

     First we checked out the windmill.From the mid 1800's, most farmers had windmills to generate the power needed to pump the water needed for their livestock. The wind turned the blades...

 which moved a rod up and down. This rod was connected to a pump at the windmill's base. This method was used until electricity became available in the 1930's-40's.

    Once a week the farmers would climb up the windmill to grease the motor's gears. Once the 'oil bath' model was invented, a self-lubricating enclosed motor, the farmers only needed to make that climb once a year to change the oil.

   The J.H.Hawes Elevator Museum is open for tours June,July, and August on Sundays from 1:00-3:00. Also, tours by appointment may be arranged.

    Besides having an information pamphlet, there are also  self-guided tour stations.

The stations had fun/interesting quizes.

    The scale house is the first stop. Here the wagon with the load of grain was weighed. The grain's quality was also tested here; the size of the grain and the amount of moisture in the grains (which added weight). This scale house was used by the Crackerjack Company of Chicago and was donated.

Geoffrey standing on the scale, alongside the scale house. The elevator can be seen in the background.

    This period scale mechanism was donated by Eugene Craft.

 I like all the computations on the wall behind it

More computations seen thu the window :-)

   The elevator driveway is where the grain was removed from the wagon. The wagon would be driven onto 12' long 'dump logs'.  Once  a lever was released the logs would be like a teeter-totter and tip the wagon.

     By using gravity, the grain would empty from the wagon into a receiving bin, called the 'boot', at the bottom of the 'grainleg'.

   The grain was transported  from the 'boot' to the storage bins (60' high) by a vertical conveyor belt.

This 'elevator' mechanism is how the elevator building got its name.

    The conveyor belt was powered by a gasoline engine and a system of belts and pulleys.

    A bin selector wheel was used to determine which vertical storage bin the grain would be transported to.

   By moving the handle, the spout would be moved to the corresponding  bin opening.

There is no access for tourists to actually see this area, but a photo is provided.

A simple sketch of the grain elevator.

        A brick building was necessary to house the gasoline engine (gasoline replaced the steam engine in the 1920's) to prevent fires. The movement of grains stirred up a lot of highly flammable dust and the engine caused sparks; the fireproof brick building separated the two.

Fire extinguisher used by the Crackerjack Company.

    A large belt connected the engine to a pulley used to turn a shaft......

A 1920 Fairbanks Morse gasoline engine

the set up of belts attaching the engine to the shaft

that runs outside the engine house and into the elevator. The shaft connects inside the elevator and powers the conveyor belt that carries the grain up into the storage bins.

Pretty skinny shaft to do so much work!!!!

   The grain was sold to wholesalers and processors and needed to be transported to them. Wooden boxcars were used for transporting the grain.

A wooden Wabash boxcar built in 1927.

     A chute was used to fill the boxcars with grain from the storage bins. 

    The sliding doors of the boxcar were opened and a 2' high long board was placed/nailed across the bottom to keep the grain in . As the grain filled the boxcar, more boards were nailed into place until the boxcar was filled.

   The ingenuity displayed and the tranquil setting made for an excellent day trip!!