420 W. Main

420 West Main
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Chris Bergin was the original owner of the lot on the southwest corner of Hudson and Main near the railroad track. He sold a barn on the lot to Nathan Blair who moved it to his place. A potato storage building and elevator were built in its place. Bergin sold the new elevator to Lyndsey P. Thomas in 1904. Lyndsey Thomas and his son Earl Thomas worked together out of this building. Their advertisement in 1913 reads “L. P. Thomas & Co.- Shippers of BEANS, Potatoes and all kinds of FRUITS.” They bought and sold wholesale. They also operated a bean planting and pulling implement factory in Lowell. The elevator business passed down to Earl in 1921 when his father died. It was referred to as the Thomas Elevator.

In 1939, the elevator was rented to C.H. Runciman who purchased it in 1954. Runciman used it in conjunction with his bean elevator a block away on S. Broadway. When the other Runciman building was severely damaged in a fire in 1963, the ‘Thomas Elevator’ worked around the clock.

In January of 1978 “The Feed Place” advertised that it was opening at 420 West Main. Bob Pearson managed the store which was owned by Clarksville Elevator. The Feed Place sold packaged animal feed including food for dogs, rabbits, pigs, horses, cats, wild birds, and calves, along with milk replacer, chick starter, and layer mash. This animal feed store was needed in Lowell because in May of 1978, the animal feed grinding part of King Milling which was housed in the old Cutter Factory on the east side of the Flat River ceased operation.

The Feed Place operated until 1983, when it was purchased by Scott and Barbara Carpenter. Their business, Blue Ribbon Feed Co., used all-natural ingredients in the feeds they manufactured. They would buy locally grown corn, oats, and mix the feed themselves. In about 2006, the Carpenters bought the corner showroom, from the former Michael’s Farm Market and moved their merchandise for retail sales there. They closed in 2012. The front retail building which remains became New Union Brewery in 2016.

The old feed elevator was torn down in 2020. Today’s children will tell their children, “I remember when there used to be a large feed mill right at the main intersection of town!”

Images:

Thomas Elevator, 1940s. The white section of the building (left) was the office.

L. P. Thomas Bean Elevator and Dratz Mfg. Co. were on the Main and Hudson corner in 1910.

L. P. Thomas & Co. Elevator and Winegar Mfg. Co., 1918.
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C. H. Runciman Bean Elevator and C. H. Runciman Filling Station and Auto Sales Show Room, 1938.