| 
In the early 1940's, Fred Brouillette was farming with
his brother, Bob. Two "events" conspired to
sow the seed of Demeter. Fred had injured his back when
a bale of hay fell on him, so he was finding it increasingly
difficult to ride a tractor for the hours required to
farm. Also, the nation was deeply involved in World
War II.
What did war have to do with Demeter?
Fred remembered the years after World War I. As the
economy shifted rapidly from war to peace, agricultural
production far outstripped demand and grain prices collapsed.
Fred remembered that during that time, the only people
who could pay their bills were the grain elevator operators.
With these thoughts in mind, Fred
Brouillette sold his half of the farm to Bob in 1944
and bought the elevator at Dunn, Indiana and formed
Dunn Grain Company. At the time, oats was a major crop.
Corn was picked and stored on the ear, and was shelled
just prior to use. The company also operated small feed
and coal businesses. (Coal must have been a better deal
for the railroad than for the elevator -- the freight
on a carload of coal was more than the cost of the coal!)
At the time, Fred's son Don was in the 8th grade.
After the war, prices did collapse
as Fred had feared. The government responded by buying
corn from farmers. To store the corn, the government
built 3,300 bushel bins at sites all around the country.
One of these sites was immediately behind the Dunn elevator.
Talk about being close to your competition!
Fred's first addition to the elevator
was feed storage capacity. In 1947, the first grain
dryer -- 200 bushel per hour -- was installed. In 1949,
the first grain storage addition was made -- a 40,000
bushel steel tank.
In 1952, Fred bought the elevators
at Freeland Park (Indiana) and Dawson Park (Illinois).
In January of 1953, Don returned home from service in
the Air Force. (While in the Air Force, Don worked in
supply. If you remember war movies, you'll remember
that supply sergeants were always "wheelers and
dealers!") When Don got home, he assumed management
of the Freeland Park elevator.
Two years later, in 1955, Don built
his first grain "bin." It was actually a 56,000
bushel Strand Steel quonset building with a new-fangled
grain management concept called aeration. This eliminated
the need for turning grain from one bin to another to
maintain its quality. Instead of passing grain through
the air, air was passed through the grain.
In 1956, Don did not build a bin.
Instead, he married Marilyn Strasburger. In 1957, however,
Don did build a bin. In fact, Don has leased, bought,
built or moved a bin every year from 1957 through the
mid 1990’s.
In 1961, Fred Brouillette retired.
Soon thereafter, Don moved his office to Dunn.In 1962,
Don bought the elevator at Hallock Station, Illinois.
This elevator had actually been built in Freeland Park
and moved to Hallock in 1909!
In July of 1964, the elevator at
Raub, Indiana belonging to Allison, Steinhart and Zook
caught fire. Despite the efforts of five fire departments,
most of the facility was destroyed. Don bought what
was left and began rebuilding the plant, including building
a new feed mill.
In 1969, Don acquired the Goodland
and Lochiel, Indiana elevators by buying the Lochiel
Grain Company. Goodland went on to become the first
Demeter elevator to load a 100-car train, and the first
country elevator in the nation to load a 100-car train
of soybeans for export.
In 1971, Don bought the elevator
in downtown Brookston, Indiana from Jack Hughes. In
1972, land on the edge of town was purchased and construction
of a new elevator was begun. In 1973, the office and
operations were transferred to the new site.
Prior to 1973, each elevator was
kept in a separate company. However, in 1973, five companies
-- Dunn Grain, Hallock Grain, Raub Grain Company, Lochiel
Elevator Company and Brookston Grain -- were combined
into Demeter, Inc.
Demeter, the Greek goddess of corn
and harvest, was actually Don's second choice for a
name. His first choice was Ceres. Ceres was the Greek
goddess of grain, and it is Ceres' statue on top of
the Chicago Board of Trade building. However, someone
else had already taken that name.
The Demeter logo was designed by
Don's son Mike. The horizontal lines represent railroad
tracks disappearing on the horizon. The lower-case "d",
with its square design and windows at the top, represents
an old wooden elevator.
In spite of rather intense lobbying
by Don, managers were very reluctant to lose their identity
by adopting the Demeter name. They continued to answer
the phones and do business under their individual names
(Raub Grain, Goodland Grain, etc.) until the company's
rapid growth in the early 1980's.
January 1974, Don established the
first "central office" in a remodeled freezer
in downtown Fowler, Indiana. The staff was lean -- Don
gave the orders and Phyllis Henady carried them out.
The freezer, being well insulated, did not require a
furnace. In later years as the office came to contain
more computer terminals (and employees) the door would
be left open on warm winter days to keep the office
from getting too hot. When the weather got really cold,
the lights would be left on over the weekend to keep
the office comfortable for Monday morning. In 1980,
Demeter built the office it occupies today.
In November of 1974, a group of
investors bought the elevator in South Beloit, Illinois
from Lowell Berg and leased it to Demeter. Although
several of the partners have changed, Demeter continues
to lease this elevator from the partnership.
In 1978, Demeter purchased the
Swanington, Indiana elevator from Central States Grain
Company. Demeter leased the Pine Village elevator from
Bob Benson in 1980, and bought the elevator in 1981.
Also in 1980, Demeter leased the elevators at Bryce
and Milford, Illinois from Lee Lautenshlager. Demeter
continued to lease these elevators until the fall of
198-5.
In September of 1982, Demeter leased
the elevators in South Hooper and Martinton, Illinois
and Morocco, Indiana from Lester Whaley. These elevators
were operated under lease until 1989. In 1989, Demeter
bought Hooper and Martinton, and the Morocco elevator
was sold to another businessman. Demeter leased the
Morocco elevator again in 1993 to store surplus corn,
and bought the elevator in 1994.
In October of 1982, Demeter purchased
the elevator in Attica, Indiana. The previous owners
had operated a fertilizer business at the same location.
The fertilizer facility was purchased by Sohigro, with
whom we shared the office and scale for several years.
Another 1982 purchase was the elevator
in Klondike, Indiana from A.E. Staley. This elevator
was used for storage of surplus grain, and was sold
by Demeter in 1988.
Also in 1982 a warehouse on Sagamore
Parkway in Lafayette, Indiana was acquired for storage
of government grain. The building was then sold in 1985
to a local start-up business, Wabash National Corporation,
which today is the largest trailer manufacturer in the
United States.
In 1983, Demeter made the largest
single acquisition in its history when it purchased
four elevators from Pillsbury. These are the elevators
at Reynolds, Tab and Judyville, Indiana and Hoopeston,
Illinois. The Judyville elevator was opened for the
harvest of 1983, but then closed to customers. In Hoopeston,
construction on a new elevator on the edge of town was
begun in 1986, and the office and all customer activity
moved to the new location in 1988.
In 1984, a group of investors built
a new grain facility at Lodi, Wisconsin. Demeter leased
this elevator, and used it as an origination station
for Beloit. In 1992, the investors sold the elevator
to a local feed company.
Also in 1984, Demeter leased the
elevator at Gundy Station, Illinois from Gene Beckner.
The elevator was purchased in 1989.
In August of 1985, Demeter leased
the elevator in Parr, Indiana from John Hancock Insurance
Company. Demeter continued to lease the elevator until
its purchase in April of 1994.
Also in 1985, Demeter purchased
the elevator in Ash Grove, Indiana from Lafayette Co-op,
and leased the elevators in Enos, Round Grove and Templeton,
Indiana. All of these elevators were acquired to store
surplus government corn. The three leased elevators
were purchased in 1986. With the exception of Enos,
all of the useable bins, driers and handling equipment
at these elevators were moved to other Demeter elevators.
The land and remaining building at Round Grove were
sold in 1993.
In the summer of 1986, Brouillette,
Inc. purchased the land across the road from the South
Beloit elevator and took the first step towards building
a commercial warehouse business. That first step was
to build a building which could initially store surplus
government grain and then later be converted to traditional
warehouse space. According to plan, the building was
used to store corn from 1986 through 1988, and was then
refitted for commercial warehousing.
In September of 1986, Demeter leased
the elevator in Talbot, Indiana from Aetna Insurance
Company. The elevator was used to store surplus grain
until the lease expired in the fall of 1988. The elevator
sat idle for one year, and was then bought by Demeter
in the fall of 1989. Much of this elevator was dismantled
and the equipment was moved to other Demeter elevators.
In the spring of 1988, Demeter
made its entry into the farm marketing advisory business
with the formation of AgriSource, Inc. In the fall of
1989, Demeter formed Market Plus, Inc. to offer similar
services. Market Plus was later merged into AgriSource,
and the combined company was sold to its management
team in 1996.
In July of 1988, Demeter leased
the elevator near Albany, Wisconsin from John Hancock
Insurance Company. This lease continued until 1999.
Also in 1988, Demeter purchased
a former feed mill in Juda, Wisconsin to gain access
to rail for Albany. The market potential did not develop
as expected, and the plant was sold in 1990.
In August of 1989, Demeter leased
the elevator in Frankfort, Indiana from Aetna Insurance
Company. The elevator was purchased by Demeter in 1992.
In 1990, Demeter entered another
new line of business with the purchase of Miller Grain.
Miller Grain supplied food grade corn primarily to corn
chip manufacturers out of their plant in Oakland, Illinois.
Also in 1990, Demeter leased a
barge loading facility on the Illinois river in East
Peoria, Illinois. This facility has been used primarily
to load specialty grains shipped from the Goodland facility
for shipment down the river system to the Gulf of Mexico
for export.
Since 1991, Demeter has leased
the elevators in Ridgefield, Harvard and Chemung, Illinois
from Seegers Grain. These elevators complemented the
South Beloit facility by significantly increasing our
volumes into the Chicago markets and later the UP rail
market.
In 1992, Brouillette, Inc. built
its second warehouse building at South Beloit. That
building was expanded in 1995.
In 1993, Louis Dreyfus closed down
its U.S. grain operations. Two Dreyfus employees approached
Demeter and proposed a grain export venture. This venture,
organized within Demeter as Commodities Specialist International,
operated for two years exporting grain through the Port
of Mobile, Alabama and trading in various domestic markets.
In 1996, Demeter, Inc. –
including all of the owned elevators and the lease on
the East Peoria barge facility – was sold to Archer
Daniels Midland Company. Demeter LP was organized to
retain the leases on the northern Illinois and Wisconsin
elevators and the corporate office. The Brouillette,
Inc. warehouses were also merged into Demeter LP at
that time.
In 1998, Demeter built its third
warehouse building in South Beloit.
In 2002, Demeter leased grain elevator
in Hampshire, Illinois, which had been acquired by Seegers
Grain.
In 2003, two warehouses on the
south side of Lafayette, Indiana were purchased.
|
