Odebolt was once known as the "Popcorn Center of the World".
Our neighboring town, Arthur, also has popcorn history. Below are the Shotwell Elevator and cribs in Arthur about 1913.
The Chronicle, August 22nd, 1912
It is announced that the Shotwell Manufacturing Co. of Chicago will construct an elevator and popcorn cribs in Arthur yet this fall. The plant will be built by Contractor Birchard of Lincoln, Nebraska at a cost of about $15,000.
It is announced that the Shotwell Manufacturing Co. of Chicago will construct an elevator and popcorn cribs in Arthur yet this fall. The plant will be built by Contractor Birchard of Lincoln, Nebraska at a cost of about $15,000.
The Shotwell people manufacture "Checkers," a confection similar to Crackerjack and are said to be the second largest consumers of popcorn in the country. For some years their supply of corn has been purchased direct from Odebolt dealers, but they have now decided to erect their own plant, and it is understood will buy for their own use only. The plant would have been built here [in Odebolt] had a site with trackage [railroad tracks] been available.
The Chronicle, October 10, 1912
The Shotwell popcorn plant now building at Arthur will have a capacity of 80,000 bushels. Eight cribs are being built, each 160 feet long, 10 feel wide and 16 feet high. Thirty men are doing the construction work as it is planned to have the plant completed in time to handle this year's crop.
The Shotwell popcorn plant now building at Arthur will have a capacity of 80,000 bushels. Eight cribs are being built, each 160 feet long, 10 feel wide and 16 feet high. Thirty men are doing the construction work as it is planned to have the plant completed in time to handle this year's crop.
Apparently there was also The Famers Elevator Company in Arthur
The Chronicle, November 12, 1914
A large amount of popcorn is being marketed at Arthur. The Farmers Elevator company has its cribs all filled, having taken in 1,500,000 pounds in four days. They have been taking in corn at the elevator and cribs at the same time, loading several cars a day.
The Shotwell elevator handled from the second day of November until Thursday, the 8th, 1,118,230 pounds of ear popcorn. On the first day ninety-one wagon loads were brought in, nine of which were left in the yard unloaded on account of the day being too short. The average weight of these loads were 3,340 pounds. The corn is being sorted and cleaned and the shelled corn taken out as it passes over the cleaning mill. The corn goes into the crib free of dirty or shelled corn, so it has plenty of ventilation. A crew of eight men besides the manage, J. C. Mickelson [? hard to read] are at work. The old popcorn is being shelled, sacked and shipped every day. The machinery works automatically, the belts going at the rate of 800 feet a minute.
A large amount of popcorn is being marketed at Arthur. The Farmers Elevator company has its cribs all filled, having taken in 1,500,000 pounds in four days. They have been taking in corn at the elevator and cribs at the same time, loading several cars a day.
The Shotwell elevator handled from the second day of November until Thursday, the 8th, 1,118,230 pounds of ear popcorn. On the first day ninety-one wagon loads were brought in, nine of which were left in the yard unloaded on account of the day being too short. The average weight of these loads were 3,340 pounds. The corn is being sorted and cleaned and the shelled corn taken out as it passes over the cleaning mill. The corn goes into the crib free of dirty or shelled corn, so it has plenty of ventilation. A crew of eight men besides the manage, J. C. Mickelson [? hard to read] are at work. The old popcorn is being shelled, sacked and shipped every day. The machinery works automatically, the belts going at the rate of 800 feet a minute.
"Time Machine: Iowa was once No. 1 in popcorn" - Cedar Rapids Gazette, March 28, 2023
Hardly anyone has heard of the Chicago-based Shotwell Manufacturing Co. popcorn plant in Arthur, east of Ida Grove in northwest Iowa.
Sitting in the heart of what was then known as popcorn country, the elevator and cribs were built around 1913.
In 1918, the Carroll Times reported about 18 million tons of popcorn had been raised the previous year around Arthur and Odebolt, “the largest popcorn markets in the United States.”
The plant at Arthur was the largest popcorn processor in the country when it was sold for $50,000 — about $850,000 in today’s dollars — to Shotwell’s main competitor, the Cracker Jack Co. of Chicago, in August 1925.
1931 fire
On Dec 5, 1931, fire destroyed the Cracker Jack popcorn plant in Arthur.
“The blaze swept through the elevator and shelling and cleaning plant of the Cracker Jack Popcorn Co., destroyed expensive machinery and caused damage estimated at $50,000.” according to a wire service story in The Gazette.
Firefighters were able to save “several hundred thousand bushels of popcorn on the cob that was stored in the company’s cribs,” the story stated.
By 1935, though, the storage cribs — that once had held 7 million pounds of ear corn and 1.75 million pounds of shelled popcorn — were empty.
Hardly anyone has heard of the Chicago-based Shotwell Manufacturing Co. popcorn plant in Arthur, east of Ida Grove in northwest Iowa.
Sitting in the heart of what was then known as popcorn country, the elevator and cribs were built around 1913.
In 1918, the Carroll Times reported about 18 million tons of popcorn had been raised the previous year around Arthur and Odebolt, “the largest popcorn markets in the United States.”
The plant at Arthur was the largest popcorn processor in the country when it was sold for $50,000 — about $850,000 in today’s dollars — to Shotwell’s main competitor, the Cracker Jack Co. of Chicago, in August 1925.
1931 fire
On Dec 5, 1931, fire destroyed the Cracker Jack popcorn plant in Arthur.
“The blaze swept through the elevator and shelling and cleaning plant of the Cracker Jack Popcorn Co., destroyed expensive machinery and caused damage estimated at $50,000.” according to a wire service story in The Gazette.
Firefighters were able to save “several hundred thousand bushels of popcorn on the cob that was stored in the company’s cribs,” the story stated.
By 1935, though, the storage cribs — that once had held 7 million pounds of ear corn and 1.75 million pounds of shelled popcorn — were empty.
From the Ida County Courier 8/22/12
- Barb Horak, editor
