By Norma Dittman
Fulda Free Press staff writer
Passengers in vehicles driving through the Minnesota city of Avoca located on United State Highway 59 in southwestern Minnesota will notice that a landmark elevator is no longer there alongside the roadway.
The elevator was torn done during January and February of this year. The process took a while, with the excavation of the office building done first with the removal of the elevator tower following.
Newspaper articles from 1943 tell of the beginnings of the elevator that stood straight and tall for 75 years. Many thanks to Janet Timmerman and Gaylene Chapman, Murray County Museum, for finding these stories and sharing them.
A first news tidbit stated, “A new and modern elevator at Avoca to replace the one destroyed by fire Feb. 1st will be in readiness for this season’s crop, acting officers of the new co-operative reported to the Herald yesterday.”
On June 3rd, of 1943, a Herald headline reported NEW ELEVATOR AT AVOCA IS NOW ASSURED. The story that followed was “Board of Directors is elected; $13,500.00 in stock already pledged. The proposed new elevator building for the Murray County Co-Operative Elevator Association of Avoca is assured. It became known this week, when farmers and others interested in the co-operative movement in the Avoca territory pledged $13,500.00 for stock in the new enterprise. Additional stock is being pledged daily, and before the new building is completed, sponsors are hopeful that more than $30,000.00 will be paid in.
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