Concrete-Central Elevator
Encyclopedia
Concrete-Central Elevator is a historic grain elevator
located on the Buffalo River
at Buffalo
in Erie County, New York
. It was built between 1915 and 1917, and was used for grain storage until 1966. Concrete Central stretches along the Buffalo River for almost a quarter of a mile and was the largest transfer elevator in the world at the time of its completion in 1917. It's also the largest elevator ever built in the Buffalo area. When in operation, it had the capacity to handle a total of 4.5 million bushels of grain. The elevator allowed crews to load and unload 20 railroad cars an hour, three marine legs could load and unload three massive lake freighter
s at one time.
Following 1966, Concrete-central changed ownership multiple times but sat idle. In 1975 concrete-central was abandoned as a derelict property. Machinery, furniture and metal have been looted from the building leaving it an unsecured empty shell to this day. In 1976, a young boy was killed in a fall after climbing to the roof of the building.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 2003.
Grain elevator
A grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...
located on the Buffalo River
Buffalo River (New York)
The Buffalo River is a river that empties into the eastern end of Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes, by the City of Buffalo in the United States of America. This stream is called the Buffalo River only in the vicinity of the city and is known as Buffalo Creek as it flows through other parts of...
at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
in Erie County, New York
Erie County, New York
Erie County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 919,040. The county seat is Buffalo. The county's name comes from Lake Erie, which in turn comes from the Erie tribe of American Indians who lived south and east of the lake before 1654.Erie...
. It was built between 1915 and 1917, and was used for grain storage until 1966. Concrete Central stretches along the Buffalo River for almost a quarter of a mile and was the largest transfer elevator in the world at the time of its completion in 1917. It's also the largest elevator ever built in the Buffalo area. When in operation, it had the capacity to handle a total of 4.5 million bushels of grain. The elevator allowed crews to load and unload 20 railroad cars an hour, three marine legs could load and unload three massive lake freighter
Lake freighter
Lake freighters, or Lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that ply the Great Lakes. The best known was the , the most recent and largest major vessel to be wrecked on the Lakes. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships. In the mid-20th century, 300 lakers worked the...
s at one time.
Following 1966, Concrete-central changed ownership multiple times but sat idle. In 1975 concrete-central was abandoned as a derelict property. Machinery, furniture and metal have been looted from the building leaving it an unsecured empty shell to this day. In 1976, a young boy was killed in a fall after climbing to the roof of the building.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 2003.
External links
- Concrete--Central Elevator - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com
- Concrete Central Grain Elevator, Buffalo, New York on Urban Exploration - Undercity.org
- Concrete-Central Elevator, 175 Buffalo River, Buffalo, Erie County, NY: 1 drawing, 30 photos, 41 data pages, and 2 photo caption pages at Historic American Building Survey
- Skyscraperpage building page
- Emporis building page