Much added to and appended, it's not easy to recognize the 1913 elevator in this complex, but it's in there, the tall elevator with the tall cupola at the centre of the annexes and bins and warehouses added over the years.
FOREMOST - ALBERTA FARMERS' CO-OPERATIVE ELEVATOR CO.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
This elevator, built in 1913 by the Alberta Farmers Co-operative Elevator Co., was the first elevator to be built at Foremost. By 1917 there were four other elevators at Foremost along with this 1913 facility, which by then carried the logo of United Grain Growers. In 1913 the UFA proposed the establishment of the Alberta Farmers' Elevator Co. as the solution to producer's problems in Alberta. Shares were issued to farmers at $60 par value, payable in four annual installments. The Alberta Government provided financial through a loan for 85 per cent of the share sum. In order to market their grain and guarantee their loans during a time of rapid war time expansion the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Co. relied on the experience of the Grain Growers Grain Co. of Manitoba. In 1917 the two companies amalgamated to form the United Grain Growers, with headquarters Winnipeg.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
This elevator is one of several extant examples of the standing design used by Alberta Farmers' Elevator Co. 1913-1917. These Alberta Farmers' Co-operative elevators had a pyramidal roof with a gable roofed cupola housing the head of the leg. Archival photographs of other Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Co. facilities suggest that this elevator probably originally had an office positioned trackside beside the elevator that also served as a warehouse. The warehouse located to the west of the elevator, that has evidently been upgraded and had the walls stuccoed, may be the original office/warehouse.
STRUCTURAL HISTORY
Built in 1913, the elevator was licensed for 35,000 bushels. Ca. 1952 UGG built a new elevator and twinned the 1913 elevator with the new complex. The warehouse or coal shed to the west of the 1913 elevator predate the 1952 elevator and be associated with operations at the 1913 elevator.
INTEGRITY
This elevator has high structural integrity. The driveway and office were removed when the elevator was twinned ca. 1952. A new driveway was built at that time. SITE CONTEXT This elevator is on the west side of the present UGG complex. Two other elevators are left at Foremost, a 1954 Alberta Wheat Pool elevator, and the last elevator built at Foremost, a concrete Buffalo 2000 Alberta Wheat Pool elevator built in 1983.
From the Alberta Heritage Register