In the early 1950s Hershel Glenn French owned three elevators in Mill Shoals, Springerton, and Golden Gate. In 1946 Charles French became part owner in the elevators. Hershel then built the Enfield elevator in 1955 and named it C. A. French and Sons.

Harlan Cushman was manager of the Springerton elevator until 1955, when he took the manager's position at Enfield. Harlan worked with Huburt "Polly" Pallard. Polly unloaded the grain from the wagons and trucks. Ruth Healy was secretary in the office. After the grain was unloaded and stored in the bins, it was transferred to railroad cars. As time went by they upgraded and unloaded grain on cars called "Big Johns," rail cars with a hopper bottom. The grain was transported from the elevator by the B & O Railroad and the L & N Railroad. They also hauled grain from the elevator in semi-trucks. Some of the grain was stored in cycloes, which we call grain bins, for later transport.

After the passing of Harlan Cushman in 1965, Ed York took over the manager's position until Jerry Behimer and George Kissner took over the elevator on May 1, 1977. In October 1975 Kissner and Behimer formed a company to jointly own and operate the elevator. George's elevators are at Wayne City and Erie, Illinois. Jerry had originally worked with Bob and Claude at Pillsbury and left the Pillsbury Co. to form Behimer and Kissner (B and K). Through Jerry's association with Bob and Claude, Consolidated Grain and Barge (CGB) became half owner in B & K as a silent partner.

In 1977 B & K made some major improvements at Enfield. They built a concrete elevator that held fifty thousand bushels. In the summer of 1977 B & K built a fifteen-thousand bushel wet bin, a two-thousand bushel continuous dryer, and two one-thousand bushel-steel tanks.

ILLINOIS HISTORY/ FEBRUARY 2000 25

The Enfield Elevator, pictured here, stores grain for area farmers. (Photo courtesy Dianna Leu Woodrow)

By 1978 B & K had grown to a regional grain company with six elevators. In 1978 B & K began construction on the terminal elevator on the Ohio River at Mt.Vernon, Indiana. In 1982 construction was completed on B & K's Mound City terminal elevator on the Ohio River. The Mt. Vernon elevator aided the growth of the Enfield elevator in many ways. One way is that after the fanners haul their grain to the Enfield elevator, the grain is dried and stored in the steel tanks, then the grain is transported to Mt. Vernon. When the grain reaches Mt. Vernon it is loaded onto barges for transport on the river.

B & K improved the Enfield elevator again in 1978 by building another two-hundred-thousand- bushel steel tank. Outside they placed a corn pad where corn is stored on the ground. This corn pad holds a quarter million bushels.

In 1979 two more steel tanks were built; these tanks each hold a quarter million bushels. They also improved the rail to the tanks. Instead of loading three cars at a time, they put in a switch enabling them to load eighteen cars. Therefore they were able to transport more grain from the elevator to Mt. Vernon or nearby barges.

While they upgraded the equipment outside, they built a new office. In August 1981 they moved into their new office. During this time Paul Hurst was the manager, Ruth Shorb was the secretary, and Karla Lee worked part-time while attending school. Tanya Loker also worked in the office at this time.

In 1981 a storm came through Enfield. Just before the storm hit workers were working inside the steel tanks. The workers were ordered to stop working and leave the tanks. In a matter of minutes the storm blew down the steel tanks and damaged the office.

As time went by, CGB had several managers, Scott Lawson, Joe Ladley, Doug Johns, Mike McKormick, Barb Gajewski, Eric Slaugher, and Todd Horton. In May 1997 Kent Armuth became manager of CGB Elevator in Enfield.

CGB has become very safety conscious with its works. In the early spring of 1999, CGB decided to build something to help save workers' lives. CGB put harnesses on the workers, so if a worker fell while loading a rail car, the worker would be caught before falling to the ground.

Another problem was the dust created while unloading grain. They sprayed a fine mist of soy bean oil on all of the grain. The soil bean oil is also sprayed on the driveway to keep down the dust so the farm trucks and workers can see all obstacles in front of them.

In the spring of 1999 CGB expanded the corn pad to 180,000 bushels. An old dryer leg was replaced with a new one.

One reason why Enfield Elevator is so important to the local farmers is that hauling grain to McLeansboro or Carmi costs much more money and valuable time getting to and from the field to the elevator to unload grain. Farming efficiently is very important. The Enfield Elevator continues to be important to the local community.—[From student historian's interviews with Charles French, Sept. 28, 1999, Larry Cushman, Sept. 28, 1999, Paul Hurst, Sept. 28, 1999; Kent Armuth, Oct. 2, 1999; CGB brochure; Margaret Davis, ed., The History of Enfield.]

26 ILLINOIS HISTORY / FEBRUARY 2000