The Detroit and Bay City Railroad first reached Rochester in 1872, and a local merchant immediately erected an elevator. In 1880, brothers Charles Kelley and Albert G. Griggs broke ground on this competing elevator. It was such a success that the brothers build a second elevator in 1884. In 1900, the Griggs sold the elevator to Erastus S. Letts, who sold it a few years later to Ferrin Brothers and Company, a large firm based in Rochester, New York. IN 1909, a group of local investors, including both Charles K. Griggs and Erastus S. Letts, formed the Rochester Elevator Company and repurchased the elevator from Ferrin Brothers. The company immediately began expanding and improving the elevator, likely by moving previously existing buildings into place and joining them to the 1880 elevator. The Rochester Elevator changed ownership again in 1913, 1922, and 1930. In 1932, local businessman Lewis Cass Crissman purchased it, turning over operation to his son, L. Keith Crissman, who purchased it himself in 1942. It was sold again in 1952, 1956, and 1962, and Lawrence Smith eventually took over operation of the elevator. However, by the 1960s, the need for an elevator in Rochester was rapidly waning, and shipping became a minor portion of the business. Smith transitioned the company to a retail feed and seed and home and garden supply outlet, and continued operating it well into the 21st century.
Description
The Rochester Grain Elevator is a two- and three-story wood frame grain elevator, made up of three separate buildings joined together to make one structure. The three portions are of roughly equal length, and are joined together end-to-end. The central building is the original 1880 Griggs Brothers elevator. It is a two-story timber frame structure on a fieldstone foundation, covered in board and battenwood siding, with a gabled roof covered in asphalt shingles. The southern section is a two-story plank frame building moved to the site in 1909. It is sheathed in rough sawn vertical wood siding and has a gabled roof covered in asphalt shingles, and sits on a concrete block foundation. The northern section is a three-story timber frame building sheathed with wood siding on two sides and sawn vertical wood siding on the other two. It has a gambrel roof covered in asphalt shingles and sits on a poured concrete foundation. This section is likely constructed from nearby building that was salvaged in 1909 and joined to the original elevator. The entire structure is painted barn red. The facade facing the street has two public entrances covered by a corrugated metal awning, which runs the length of the building. A small shed-roofed addition is on one end. The facade at the end facing University drive has advertising signage painted directly on the siding.
