American Elevator - Table of Contents ........... Grain Elevators - Table of Contents

American Elevator Malt House
Russell-Miller Milling Company Elevator / Peavey Co. Elevator

87 Childs Street in the First Ward in Buffalo, NY

Part of Silo City

Original owner and function:
The founding company, American Malting, was created in August 1897, to consolidate a large number of small malt houses under one combine. The trust was established to sell prepared malt to brewers more cheaply than they could purchase barley alone. The Volsted Act (Prohibition) ruined the business.
Second owner and function:
In the spring of 1922,  the Russell-Miller Milling Company purchased the complex, which was subsequently extended and converted for flour production Occident-brand flour.  By the late 1920s, the company owned 135 country elevators and three terminal elevators including the American.
Third owner: In the early 1950s, Russell-Miller was bought out by Peavey Corporation, the sixth largest grain dealer in the world. Peavey improved the elevator and made the mill the world's largest pneumatic flouring processor.

American Elevator Malt House / Russell-Miller Milling Company Flour Mill

The [American] elevator was built in association with a malt house constructed to the west of it in December of 1906. The steel and brick malt house was built by the James Stewart Company at a cost of $1 million. The building was in two sections—a main five- story block measuring 175' x 110'  featuring three towers on its western elevation and another five-story building south of the main block. A steel-roofed railroad loading shed was located in the gap between the main block of the malt house and the adjoining elevator.

I
n the spring of 1922,  the Russell-Miller Milling Company purchased the complex, which was subsequently extended and converted for flour production.

Almost immediately, the unloading capabilities of the elevator were augmented by the addition of a second marine tower with associated quayside. The new tower was movable and ran on tracks between the existing fixed tower and the Perot Elevator.

Russell Miller commissioned the design of a new mill in 1923 for which a building permit was issued the next year. The new structure was built on the site of the south wing of the original malt house that had been demolished the previous year.

- Source: HABS, p. 6 (online April 2013)


Note the left  (west) section of American Elevator where the flour mill added in 1924.

Original photo (without text) from Google Earth.


Mill: A building equipped with machinery for grinding grain into flour and other cereal products.


West elevation.

Left (white painted brick): 1906 malt house, adjacent to the taller main house.
Right: 1923 Russell-Miller Milling Company Elevator flour mill.

The 1906 elevator was built in association with a malt house constructed to the west of it in December of 1906. The steel and
brick malt house was built by the James Stewart Company at a cost of $1 million. The building was in two sections - a main five- story block  [left building in photo] and another five-story building south of the main block [demolished for flour mill].

Russell Miller commissioned the design of a new mill in 1923 for which a building permit was issued the next year.  The new structure was built on the site of the south wing of the original malt house that had been demolished the previous year.



1906 malt house first floor ceiling.



1906 malt house first floor



1906 malt house first floor





Color photos and their arrangement © 2013 Chuck LaChiusa
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