My recollection of the round corrugated grain storage bins is that they
first began appearing in the 30's. Manufactured by Butler, they were placed
in rural areas in large numbers by the US Government as "cheap" grain
storage for area farmers who could not afford storage, but also could not
"afford" to sell their grain for the current rate. The idea was the
government provided cheap storage facilities so a farmer could store grain
for later use or sale. You still can occasionly find one of these storage
"farms" with several rows of bins near a rural crossroads or corner along
the highway. When I lived in eastern Iowa I had several farmers who were
still using them, the rent was cheaper than buiding your own. Often the
governement lease was passed down through families, so the same family/farm
might be using the same bin from the time it was erected.
In HO someone has a model kit available for the small Butler grain bins. The
larger bins that Rix and Walthers makes I think came about later as
elevators discoverd that round bins work well and were cheaper than wood
construction.
Doug Harding
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