American Colossus: The Grain Elevator, 1843 to 1943

New! Improved! Updated! Shorter and less expensive! -- Yes, William J. Brown's "American Colossus: the Grain Elevator 1843 to 1942" has been republished, and it is even better than before. Originally published in 2009, "American Colossus" is still the only book-length history of the invention, development and widespread adoption of the steam-powered grain elevator, which was invented in Buffalo, New York, in 1843 by Joseph Dart and Robert Dunbar. Over the course of the next 50 years, Buffalo-style grain elevators were built all over the Great Lakes region and, eventually, all over the world.

"American Colossus" pays careful attention to the role played by the Erie Canal and to such technical matters as fireproofing measures and materials-handling techniques. The heart and soul of the book are the chapters devoted to the depictions and interpretations of Buffalo's elevators by the local press in the 19th C and such European modern architects as Gropius, Mendelssohn and Le Corbusier in the 20th.