The Globe Elevator: 131 Years of History

Here's a look at some of the history behind the grain elevator that went up in flames.

SUPERIOR, Wis.- Along with the wood that went up in flames from the Globe grain elevator, over 100 years of history burned with it.

“It was an older elevator that was… It wasn’t very modern,” former Globe worker Ted Pellman said in front of the structure that was up in flames.

131 years, that’s how long it’s been since the first carload of grain was processed at the Globe.

“Between the Great Lakes and between the railroads, this was the port that so much of the grain from the Midwest left to other parts of the country or to the rest of the world,” Douglas County Historical Society boardman Jon Winter said.

The grain handling industry took off in Duluth in the 1870s. After its surge in popularity, activity moved across the bridge into Superior when the Globe elevator, the largest grain elevator in the world at the time, was being built.

“We’re built on a waterfront. This is one of our major sources of commerce,” Winter said.

Despite many of its nearby elevators remodeling, only one update happened for the Globe, when a stone foundation was built under the original pine wood structure.

And people worried about the globe’s design. The combination of the old wood and grain dust made it dangerously flammable.

But the Globe withstood not one but two major fires. The first in 1907, that destroyed four nearby flour mills. The second in 1941, that took out other nearby grain elevators.

“This one survived that. This one survived to the point of being able to be re-purposed,” Winter said.

Members of the Douglas County Historical Society say the irony is how many fires the globe made it through and how strong it stayed for 101 years.

In 1988, no longer cost effective, the Globe shut down for business.

“I had kind of always hoped that perhaps it could have been a museum down here. You know, a grain elevator museum, of course, being that this is from the 1880s,” Pellman said.

In 1994, outside agencies purchased the globe to begin preserving the historic building.

“I know over the years they’ve been dismantling them and i love that they saved pieces so that people could enjoy the wood for other purposes. Their re-purposing is just so beautiful,” Amsoil’s executive director Chelly Townsend said.

Deconstruction of the original structure began to re-purpose the wood going places like the historical society and Duluth’s Amsoil Arena.

“The real loss of this fire is not only an economic loss but also the historic loss of everything that could have been done for that salvaged material,” Winter said.