Art Show Photo 2

The railroads brought the grain elevators, and the grain elevators brought communities. (yesterday’s blip)

This, my second photo in the exhibit, shows the general store, a home and a recreation centre for the community that sprung up across the street from the elevator. Two families lived here, including one above the store. However, many families from nearby farms would gather here to shop at the store and dance at the recreation centre. It was the commercial and social hub for the area.

As people began to travel further in their trucks and automobiles, they would shop in larger centres where they might also find medical services, banks (or more commonly credit unions), larger hardware stores and many other goods and services. Without the grain elevators drawing people to the area, these once thriving communities fell into abandonment.