Last grain elevator in Wheat City torn down
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/05/2021 (1841 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Brandon’s last grain elevator is no more.
The Cargill grain elevator on Pacific Avenue, originally the McCabe grain elevator, was torn down by a demolition crew on Tuesday morning and afternoon.
According to the website for the Manitoba Historical Society, the elevator was first built around 1937.
In 1965, six steel grain tanks were installed next to the elevator.
Three years later, McCabe sold its elevators and assets to two companies, National Grain Limited and United Grain Growers.
Cargill, which had its name emblazoned on the side of the elevator, bought the elevator in 1974.
According to a 2015 Sun article, the elevator was being used for storage after another storage elevator owned by Cargill at the corner of 13th Street and Pacific Avenue was demolished in 2010.
At that time, the elevator was joined on its lot by Cargill’s feed mill, which had been shuttered in 2014.
Sometime between 2015 and February 2017, the property was purchased by developers Robyn and Jason Sneath, who intended to turn the lot into parking.
The Sneaths have purchased several historic properties in downtown Brandon to restore them and make them suitable for modern businesses.
Robyn Sneath had said that they had gotten a good deal on the property because they were going to have to pay for the elevator to be torn down.
At the time, it was believed that the elevator would be demolished in the summer of 2017, which didn’t end up happening.
On Tuesday, Robyn confirmed that she and her husband still own the property, but aren’t sure what they’ll be doing with it yet.
“We have no set plans as of yet, but we decided to take advantage of the demolition crew being down the street in order to clear the land for new development so that we can continue our work revitalizing Brandon’s beautiful downtown,” she wrote in an email.
Demolition crews have been on Pacific Avenue this late winter and early spring demolishing buildings like the old Kullberg’s Furniture warehouse in preparation for the replacement of the Daly Overpass.
As for why the demolition took so many years to arrange, Robyn also wrote that the City of Brandon denied a permit at the time because it had different ideas about how the elevator should be torn down.
She said they’d also debated whether they could salvage the building and “make it something cool,” but costs were too high to justify.
» cslark@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ColinSlark