Warner Elevator Row - History and Significance

History and Significance

Since a vast number of the once-dominant wood-crib grain elevators throughout Canada have been torn down, only two elevator rows have survived partial demolition if not complete demolition. An example of such is Vulcan, Alberta, which once boasted a total of 12 grain elevators at one time, more than any location west of Winnipeg, Manitoba. By 2000 all but one have since been demolished and replaced with two larger concrete grain terminals on the southeast side of town.

Warner is one of the last two rows in Canada with a total of six elevators, the other Inglis, Manitoba, with a total of five elevators, these two elevator rows remain the last surviving "elevator rows" in Canada. Warner's elevators have not been protected and may be at risk of demolition. The elevators at Inglis however have since been fully restored back to their original signage and are now fully protected as National Historic Sites of Canada.

Prior to 1911 Warner had two elevators, one was a 30,000 imperial bushels (1,100 m3) house built by Alberta Pacific Elevator Co., and the other was a 25,000 imperial bushels (910 m3) elevator built by Jones and Dill. In 1913 the first elevator remaining in the present row was constructed by the Alberta Farmers’ Co-operative Elevator Co..

The individual structural and narrative history of the elevators illustrates well developments in the grain industry and individual companies from before WWII to the 1980s.

The row at Warner is of significance for its massing of complexes. The elevators built at Warner date from 1913 to 1960. The row includes an early example of the Alberta Farmers’ Co-operative Elevator company design, and an example of several different complex component arrangements; elevator and twin, elevator and annexes of several types, original type offices and replacement offices. The row has a total of six complexes, with a total of eight elevators. The elevator built by Ellison Milling and Elevator Co. in 1939 is an architecturally significant example of a 1940s complex that has undergone almost no change, comprising an elevator, two balloon annexes, and a track side office/warehouse, usually associated with an earlier period. There are only a small number of elevators from the later 1930s left standing in the province; a reminder that few were built for some time after 1934. This elevator was demolished in the early 2000s.