‘The shock was amazing’: Ogden grain elevator head houses demolished

Nov 2, 2024, 12:17 PM

The first of two head houses at the old Farmers Grain Cooperative grain elevator in Ogden fell after it was detonated with explosives on Saturday. (Mike McBride, City of Ogden)

(Mike McBride, City of Ogden)

BY TIM VANDENACK, KSL.COM

KSLNewsRadio

OGDEN — The two head houses serving the old Farmers Grain Cooperative grain elevator in west Ogden have been reduced to rubble, closing the chapter on the facility’s history serving northern Utah’s agricultural community.

It took two blasts of explosives to down the 185-foot-high structures Saturday morning. The rubble will eventually be carted off so the 20-acre site that served as home to the grain elevator, built in 1941, can be redeveloped.

“The shock was amazing. I’m still shaking from it,” said Maya Rushton, who traveled from her home in Syracuse to witness the detonation. “It was great.”

Marta Galindo and her family were sleeping in their nearby home when the first blast went off around 8 a.m., waking them. The house shook and they wondered what was going on, eventually making their way to the grain elevator site to watch the second blast, which took place around 9:10 a.m.

“We thought we were getting bombed by the Russians already,” joked her son, Nathan Galindo.

The second of two head houses at the old Farmers Grain Cooperative grain elevator in Ogden fell after it was detonated with explosives on Saturday. (Photo: Tim Vandenack, KSL.com)

The 20-acre parcel is owned by Jacksonville, Florida-based Patriot Rail and operated as Utah Central Railway Co. The firm hired Grant Mackay Demolition to down the head houses while Ogden police and firefighters helped with security. “The city’s role in this was public safety,” said Mike McBride, spokesman for the city of Ogden, stressing that the city has had no other hand in the land plans.

The grain elevator, abutting a rail line near the I-15 and 24th Street interchange, had served the many farms of Weber County and beyond when agriculture was more of a pillar of the local economy. Farmland has given way to development, however, and the structure had halted operations, paving the way for plans to redevelop the site, perhaps as a transloading or warehousing site. The area where it sits is now largely industrial.

The old Farmers Grain Cooperative grain elevator in west Ogden, photographed March 5, is now demolished. Built in 1941, its demise underscores the changing local economy and shift from agriculture. (Photo: Tim Vandenack, KSL.com)

The transition away from agriculture in Weber County, exemplified by the demolition of the grain elevators, has prompted nostalgia among some. “It’s kind of sad to see them disappear,” said Rushton, who said the grain elevator served as a visual “landmark” from I-15 when coming to Ogden.

Ernie Hill remembers the grain elevator from his youth. “I grew up in Sunset. I’ve seen that there my whole life,” he said.

On the flip side, Rushton said, things evolve. “Things got to grow. Things got to change,” she said.

Spectators await demolition of the second of two head houses at the old Farmers Grain Cooperative grain elevator in Ogden that was blasted with explosives on Saturday. (Photo: Tim Vandenack, KSL.com)

The two head houses rose up to 185 feet, according to articles from the Ogden Standard-Examiner from 1941, when the facility was finished, towering above the grain bins. Demolition work started last February and the bins were downed with heavy equipment starting last February, ultimately leaving just the head houses.

The two head houses were to have been downed in the same blast on Saturday instead of two, McBride said, but the detonation “didn’t go as planned.” The structures tipped after the respective blasts, tipping and falling to the ground, creating large dust clouds. Crews doused the dust with water.