♦.V, 



Ashton Elevator 



Sieword Elevator 



Aachenbrenner Elevator 



o9te counry 



Here's a sketch oi the territory served by 

 ttie Lee County Grain Association. The 

 broken line approximates the area which 

 takes in part oi Ogle county. Stars desig- 



nate Lee County Grain elevators, and the 

 squares designate other member eleva- 

 tors of the Illinois Grain Corporation in 

 Lee county. 



Shaw Elevator 



ket lunch and the annual meeting was 

 a social event of the year. Some of 

 the older boys who attended the first 

 annual meetings with their parents are 

 today the best customers of the Lee 

 County Grain. 



In 1938 the first patronage dividend 

 was paid. It covered the period from 

 Oct. i, 1935 to Sept. 30, and amounted 

 to $12,163. It was paid on the basis of 

 1 per cent on grain and 4 per cent on 

 meichandise. Patronage dividends have 

 been paid every year since 1938. 

 Patronage dividends paid in 1943 were 

 based on ll^ per c^nX. on grain and 

 8 per cent on merchandise sales. 

 Patronage dividends are paid to all cus- 

 tomers. Method of payment is as fol- 

 lows: Those who hold a share of class 

 A preferred stock receive their patron- 

 age dividend in cash. Those wTio do 

 not hold stock shares have their patron- 

 age credited to subscription of a share 

 of stock with a par value of $25 per 

 share. Today patrons hold 780 shares 

 of class A preferred stock with a total 

 par value of $19,500, and other patrons 



have credit on partially paid-up shares 

 of $4,516.48. 



What did Lee County Grain have 

 after it took over the operating end of 

 the business in 1935 ? The leased ele- 

 vators taken over included the Lee 

 Center, Ashton, Aschenbrenner, a 



Robert Hoyle. general manager oi Lee 

 County Grain, shows Farm Adviser C. E. 

 Yale the cooperative's progress ior the 



storage elevator, Kersten, and the Mid- 

 dlebury elevator. With the exception 

 of the Ashton elevator on the North- 

 western railroad, the remaining oper- 

 ating elevators depended on the Lee 

 County Electric for rail outlet. 



Today, Lee County Grain leases the 

 Lee Center elevator where the co-op- 

 erative has its central offices. The ele- 

 vator has a capacity of 23,000 bushels. 

 It also leases the Aschenbrenner ele- 

 vator for storage, and last year 12,000 

 bushels of soybeans were stored there. 

 It owns the Ashton elevator of 16,000 

 bushels capacity, the Steward with 35,- 

 000 bushel capacity on the Milwaukee, 

 and the Shaw with 8,000 bushels ca- 

 pacity on the C. B. & Q. The Lee Cen- 

 ter elevator is the only operating ele- 

 vator that is on the Lee County Elec- 

 tric. 



The Shaw elevator represents the co- 

 operative's first purchase as it was ac- 

 quired in 1937. In 1940, the Steward 

 Co-op Elevator was in financial straits 

 and the Lee County Grain operated it 



(Continued on page 22) 



FEBRUARY. 1944 



17 



