Inglis Grain Elevator
Grain elevators, towering giants looming over flat fields, were once a regular part of the Manitoban landscape. They were built along rail lines to store and ship grain, and by the 1940s over 5,500 were scattered across the province.
Today, many of those grain elevators have been torn down. In Inglis, Manitoba, one can find a rare glimpse into the past. Five grain elevators, nicknamed The Five Prairie Giants, in a neat row where a rail line once ran. All the elevators were built in the early 1920s by separate grain companies.
All grain elevators have one thing in common: the distinctive massing of the main structure. Variations can be found in the roofing style, and in the building’s variety of additions. For example, the Northern Elevator was built with an attached storage area and coal shed with roofs that slope off the main structure.
Not all of these variations are immediately noticeable. What sets the Paterson Elevator apart from the others is actually inside the building; when it opened in 1922, it featured a state-of-the-art dust collecting system meant to reduce risk of fire.
Today, Five Prairie Giants have been lovingly preserved as a museum and a National Historic Site since 1996.