Harvestore Silo, Wayside, WI

Harvestore Silo, Mancal Road near Wayside, Wisconsin (1.19.2014)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Introducing a cool deep blue to the farm, where earth tones prevailed, made a modern statement starting in 1949. Harvestore blue results from the industrial process of fusing glass/enamel to steel. The blue of the Harvestore contrasted with the fields of crops, the tilled earth, golden oats, red barns against a backdrop of the blue sky.

Found: Beaver Dam Iron Works, Beaver Dam, WI

Found: Beaver Dam Malleable Iron Works. Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Published by Ino T. Faber, Milwaukee. Wis.
Made in Germany. Postmarked June 16, 1909 10 AM Beaver Dam.

The company had a long and heroic history of making Monarch ranges, convection ovens, refrigerators, furnaces, and even war time supplies like artillery shells, truck bodies, and gas cans. It held many patents operating from 1896 until 1985. Actor Fred MacMurray is said to have worked there for a time.  By the 1980s the company filed bankruptcy and the property was given to Dodge County because of back taxes owed. Chemical contamination at the site, arson, and vandalism plagued the property. The buildings were razed in 1990. Clean up of the site began with funds from the EPA and various government agencies. The total cost: $2.6 million. In 1996 a grocery store was built on the site.

Harvestore, Highway 147, Two Rivers, WI

Harvestore, Highway 147 near Two Rivers, Wisconsin (1.31.2014) © J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Thinking about branding and decay. The signature blue color and A.O. Smith HARVESTORE font and logo erode and change slowly as the Wisconsin elements (snow, ice, rain, wind) work away at this resilient surface. The Harvestore® silo structure stands tall amidst a grouping of traditional farm buildings of functional design also gracefully disintegrating in the snow of January.

Found: Blast Furnaces, Mayville, WI

Found: Blast Furnaces, Mayville, Wisconsin. 
Postmarked Mayville, Wis. August 21, 1908

Iron mining and the old Iron Ridge were integral to early Mayville and vicinity development from 1845 to 1928. Blast furnaces, operated by the Mayville Iron Company, and the pig iron they made earned the area the title of the Pittsburgh of the West. As time marched on, iron came from Minnesota and upper Michigan rather than the immediate area. The blast furnaces declined as a result of a transition from iron to steel and were demolished during the depression as part of a government works project. Today an important abandoned iron mine in nearby Neda serves as habitat to an estimated 200,000 bats.

Harvestores on the Horizon, Brillion, WI

Harvestores on Horizon, Long Lake Road near Brillion, Wisconsin (1.31.2014)
© J. Shimon & J. Lindemann

Driving along Wisconsin roads, silos of various vintages break the horizon often with Harvestores in the mix. As we pan the landscape, several farms are visible across the frozen tundra each with a Harvestore or two.