MOBERLY — The demolition of the Stamper Grain Towers marks the end of a chapter in Moberly's agricultural history.
Demolition began Monday with crews preparing the site to use high-reach excavators to gradually remove the towers. The project is expected to take several weeks.
For local families, the towers represent much more than an old grain facility.
The grain towers date back to before the 1950s. For one 9-year-old volunteer at the time, Wayne Wilcox, born in 1947, feed had to be mixed by hand.
"They used an old wooden leg, which is a method of raising feed to a bulk tank, and then they dropped that down to a bagger that sat on an old platform scales, and they weighed it out 50 or 100 pounds at a time," Wilcox said.
The mill eventually produced feed for hogs, poultry, cattle, turkeys, rabbits, and later, dogs. It also became a source of employment for many young people in the Moberly area.
"There was a lot of kids, a lot of young ladies went to work," Wilcox said. "Some of their first jobs, if they were rural, came to work there, and so many young fellows got their start."
For years, Wilcox said that a neon sign hung above the structure that read "Mill Fresh Stamper Feeds."
Tom Sanders, Moberly's Public Works community director, said the towers had become more of an eyesore and safety concern than a useful part of the community.
"They've out served their usefulness, and it's a pigeon trap right now," Sanders said.
Sanders said the property was donated to the city earlier this year by its most recent owners.
Sanders also said the city was able to use the donation to secure Community Development Block Grant funding for the demolition.
"We were successful to get $300,000 for demolition and $21,000 for administration of it," Sanders said.
Although the towers are now in the process of being demolished, the history of Stamper Feed lives on through the generations of workers and families who were connected to the mill.
