The Adams Woodframe Grain Elevator is a

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

Adams, Oklahoma Adams is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in eastern Texas County, Oklahoma, Texas County, Oklahoma, United States. It is approximately east-northeast of the county seat, Guymon, Oklahoma, Guymon.

. The elevator was built in 1926, the same year the community of Adams was established by the Tex-Co Grain Company. The

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

(Rock Island) opened a line past the grain elevator in 1929, which linked

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Liberal, Kansas Liberal is the county seat of Seward County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 19,825. Liberal is home of Seward County Community College. History Early settler S. S. Rogers built the first house ...

. The elevator has mainly held wheat, the primary crop in the area, and operated continuously from its opening to at least 1983. The grain was shipped by railroad from Adams to markets in either

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

On May 13, 1983, the elevator was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. It was burned down around August 22, 2018 because of safety issues.

Description

The building is approximately square by high. It has a wood frame and is covered with corrugated metal siding, which is attached to horizontal wood support beams that run from grade level to the gable roof line. The roof is also covered with corrugated sheet metal. The east side faces the railroad track and has a single door entrance at grade. There is a loading spout and two windows, one above the other, in the loft. Two one-story sheds are attached to the south elevation. The smaller shed has a double sliding door and was used for storing equipment. The larger has a double, swinging door, and leads into the area where grain was unloaded from wagons and trucks. The west elevation looks like the east, except that it has no loading spout. The north elevation has a double, sliding exit door and four windows (two pairs, one above the other).

Gradual destruction

In 2017, a news story reported that the old grain elevator has developed a noticeable lean toward the north, because of the prairie wind. Apparently this has occurred since the 1980s, when the Rock Island removed its track and a grain truck fell through the elevator floor. The structure is officially condemned as of 2017.Culver, Galen. "Oklahoma’s Leaning Tower: The old Adams grain elevator is in a gravity defying, slow-motion fall." News4. August 18, 2017.
Accessed December 10, 2017. It was burned down about August 22, 2018.

Notes

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma Industrial buildings completed in 1926 Buildings and structures in Texas County, Oklahoma Grain elevators in Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Texas County, Oklahoma