703 G Street

Address: 703 G Street

Legal Description: Bigelow’s 1st Addition, Lots 4-9 & 26-29, Block 1

Building:

1872 Vacant lot.

1885 Anthony Koehler started the A. Koehler Company.  The original office was on the north side of G or Court Street (702 G St.) as it would have been called in the early days.

1885 (Anthony) A. Koehler Company, Grain and Lumber was located here.  They built corn cribs 20 rods long.

1887 Mr. Koehler moved his yard to the south side of Court Street when the railroad came through Geneva.  The original office stood where the hatchery building was located.  About this time, Mr. Koehler built a small elevator on the railroad right of way.

1892 A. Koehler bought the Neil Duncan lumber yard and also the C. G. Cone & Co. yard.  The two lumber yards were consolidated and taken charge of by Harry Kerlin.  No further information about the Duncan lumber yard except that Neil Duncan moved to Pawnee City about 1893.

1892 Koehler’s operated a grain elevator near Court street and the alley.

1894 Barthold (Bat) Koehler, brother of Anthony, became associated with the business.

1897 The A. Koehler lumber yard caught fire from a passing train, but an early discovery saved the yard.

1900 In February, Anthony died at the age of 40.  After Anthony’s death, his wife sold the business to Barthold and another brother, Christian.

1900 In June, the A. Koehler Co. sold their grain elevator to the Updike Grain Co. of Omaha.  The A. Koehler, with B. Koehler as manager, continued to manage the elevator.

1900 In July, the Updike elevator company made extensive improvements on the elevator purchased from the A. Koehler Co.  Two additions were built, one on the north and one on the south.

1902 A. Koehler established a brick plant on 35 acres south of Geneva at the crossing of the Chicago & Burlington and C B & Q railroad tracks.  The Elkhorn train connected a switch at the brickyard.

1903 In January, a new 80-horse boiler arrived for the brickyard.

1903 In February, the former janitor of the courthouse, A. E. Strayer, planned to work at the new brickyard.  Also, Charles Benjamin of Martland moved to Geneva to work at the new brickyard.

1903 In March, progress was being made on the new brickyard.

1903 In April, a new whistle was installed at the new brickyard.

1903 In July, the city purchased the old Koehler brickyard south of town to use as a dump.

1903 In August, Miles Flick got a gash on the top of his head while working under a rapidly revolving pulley at the brickyard.  Dr. George Mozee had to take several stitches.

1903 In November, R. B. Mutton, foreman of the A. Koehler brickworks, moved to Seattle where he was to work at Bellingham Brick Co.

1903 From July 1st through November, the A. Koehler co. had made a million and a half bricks.  They planned to sell all the bricks  by the time brick making was to resume in the spring.  For two or three weeks they finished burning and cleaning the plant for the winter.

1904 A. Koehler Co. began manufacturing bricks at their new plant on the south edge of town along the railroad.  Geneva Brickyard could produce 20,000 bricks per day, a purely Fillmore County product.  25 men were employed and worked in day and night shifts to keep up with demand.  They enlarged the drying shed.

1906 In January, the A. Koehler Co. gave a contract to C. A. Moore for the erection of a brick smokestack for the boiler used at the brickyard.  The new stack was to be 60 feet tall, ten feet taller than the brick stack at the waterworks.

1906 In April, work commenced at the Koehler brickyard.

1910 In September, the Updike Grain Co. of Omaha sold the elevator that was being managed by the A. Koehler Co. to Jerry Delaney from Harvard.

1912 A brick office building was built at this location, north of the original building.  Bricks were from the A. Koehler brickyard.

1917 The A. Koehler Co. bought from Frank Martin of Bruning, a very fine pair of black geldings.  The team weighed about 3,000 pounds.  They were used on one of the company’s wagons.

1917 The A. Koehler put into use a one-ton International auto truck.  B. Koehler expected it to take the place of two teams in general delivery work from the lumber yard.  It was not used to handle coal.

1917 In July, the B. Koehler Grain Co. purchased Jerry Delaney’s five grain elevators in Geneva, Strang, Bruning, Belvidere, and Shickley.  B. Koehler Grain Co. became a corporation following this purchase.

1921 Christian Koehler died.

1921 Barthold managed the business until his health began to fail.

1924 John Koehler became associated with the business.

1926 Barthold  died.  

1927 The Geneva Brickyard was dismantled as new building materials were developed.  

1927 Ben Koehler joined the company.

1928 The telephone listing was A. Koehler Co. Lumber and Coal.

1932 A feed department was added that also ground and mixed feeds.

1933 Another part of the business’s growth was the elevator.  Between 1933 and 1940, the Sheridan Grain Co. and McNeal Elevator Co. were acquired.

1937 The hatchery business with Charles Picard (son-in-law of Bat Koehler) was here.  About 1000 turkeys were hatched the first year.  

1937 A large layer house was added on the southwest corner of Geneva (O. A. Merrill farm) which housed 4,500 laying hens for breeder stock.

1940 A blizzard on Armistice Day froze most of the turkeys, but the Department of Health deemed them edible, so many Geneva families had numerous Thanksgiving dinners that year.

1941 Charles Picard resigned and Sylvester Weis took over the hatchery business.  Under his management, this department continued to expand.  12,500 turkeys were raised each year as compared to 1,000 just a few years prior.

1945 George Koehler became associated with his brothers in the company.

1950 From 1950 to 1954, eight steel tanks were added and the north elevator was completely remodeled and steel quonsets were built for grain storage.  

1954 A fertilizer department was added.

1960 There was a fire at the hatchery.

1963 Koehler Hatchery was sold to Sylvester Weis.  The new name was Weis Hatchery and Poultry Farm.  By 1968, this business was no longer listed in the phone book.

1973 A. Koehler Company sold their business and physical assets to B. H. & L. Grain Co.  Owners of the company were J. E. Halloran, A. Kudlacek, K. Burt, R. D. Lovegrove and J. W. Wilkins.  B. H. & L. continued their operation in Grafton.

1975 B H & L Grain Co. began construction of new concrete grain silos on the west side of 7th Street, across from the office.  The new elevator was the tallest structure in Geneva.

1980 The Pillsbury Company purchased the elevator.  The 90-year-old A. Koehler Company grain elevator located east of the office was demolished.

1985 B H & L Agri Services had office space here.  The chemical tanks and trailers were at 704 D Street.

1992 Ong Co-op leased B H & L Agri-Service in Geneva and took over the grain and fertilizer operations.

1993 B H & L Grain sold their grain and fertilizer business to Farmers Co-op Association of Ong.

1996 Farmers Co-op Association of Ong voted to merge with Aurora Co-op Elevator Co.  

2005 The Aurora Co-op added two new storage buildings east of the office on the former Chicago & Northwestern Railroad right-of-way.

2008 Aurora Co-op, Geneva branch, tore down the original A. Koehler Co, brick office constructed in 1911 to make room for a new office building built on the site.

This was ongoing as of the last posting.