Pat Needham, former Buffalo grain scooper and grain ship engineer from Alabama Street
Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo--Employees
Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo
Grain trade--New York (State)--Buffalo
“When we were kids we’d go to Concrete Central – just fields over there, old railroad tracks. And we'd hang out." Some of Buffalo’s grain elevators had already shuttered by the time Pat Needham was a kid, but he worked hauling and scooping grain for decades in Buffalo and around the Great Lakes. A tragic accident down in the hold of a grain ship put an end to his working life. Pat didn’t have to tell us what it was like getting pulled out from a ship hold without being able to feel his legs, but he did. Needham was interviewed in early 2020 by Kate Kaye. NOTE: This story involves graphic injury descriptions, as well as descriptions of scooping gangs and scooping work and equipment.
Kaye, Kate
https://redtailmedia.org/spilling-grain/
Needham, Pat
Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)
eng
Lynda Schneekloth, University at Buffalo architecture professor emeritus and grain elevator preservationist
“They are so out of scale to anything that you see in your life that they are like a distant landscape right in front of you all the time.” More than a grain elevator enthusiast, Lynda Schneekloth is a scholar of these giant concrete and steel structures. On a frigid and windy Buffalo day in February 2020, she braved the cold to point out their inner-workings, why they were built the way they were, why they’re considered architectural wonders – and why so many of us are intrigued by them. Schneekloth was interviewed in February 2020 by Kate Kaye. NOTE: This story features detailed descriptions of Buffalo’s grain elevator architecture, Buffalo’s grain elevator and cultural preservation, internal grain elevator machinery and processes.
Schneekloth, Lynda
Jack Driscol, former boss of a Buffalo grain scooping gang, railroad man and elevator worker
"The scoopers were at the whim of everybody." A railroad man at age 17 who would soon become the “boss” of a grain scooping “gang” in 1962, Jack Driscol toiled on Buffalo’s waterfront his whole working life. Jack shared memories of scooping grain deep down in the hold of a ship, of working with equipment that stayed the same since his dad's time as a scooper, and about what being the boss of a scooping gang was really like. Driscol was interviewed in early 2020 by Kate Kaye. NOTE: This story features detailed descriptions of scooping gangs and scooping work and equipment, grain elevator and railroad operations and related work.
Driscol, Jack
[Former Buffalo grain scoopers at the Waterfront Memories and More Museum]
Former Buffalo grain scoopers pictured from left: Sam Kolodziej, Jack Driscol, Pat Needham, photo taken at Waterfront Memories and More Museum, 41 Hamburg St, Buffalo, NY, photo by Kate Kaye, December 2019
Kolodziej, Sam
[Former Buffalo grain scoopers gathered at the Apollo Family restaurant for coffee]
Former Buffalo grain scoopers (clockwise from left: Fred Brill, Pat Needham, Sam Kolodziej, unnamed friend, Jack Driscol, Bob Roberts) at the Apollo Family Restaurant, 3387 South Park Avenue, Buffalo, NY, where the old pals gathered weekly for coffee, catch-up and a bit of Buffalo Bills talk, photo by Kate Kaye, January 2020.
Brill, Fred
Roberts, Bob
[Former Buffalo flour mill workers Bruce and Joel Carter sitting in kitchen]
Flour mills--New York (State)--Buffalo--Employees
Flour mills--New York (State)--Buffalo
Flour industry--New York (State)--Buffalo
Former Buffalo flour mill workers Bruce Carter (left) and his brother Joel Carter, photo by Kate Kaye, January 2020.
Carter, Bruce
Carter, Joel
[Lynda Schneekloth, University at Buffalo architecture professor, inside the former Perault Malt House]
Lynda Schneekloth, University at Buffalo architecture professor emeritus and grain elevator preservationist, inside the former Perot Malt House, Childs Street, Buffalo, NY, photo by Kate Kaye, February 2020
[Interior view of Duende (bar) at Silo City]
Inside Duende Bar, once used as an administrative office for flour mill operators, Childs Street (�Silo City Row�), Buffalo, NY, photo by Kate Kaye, February 2020.
[Interior view of Duende (bar) at Silo City, facing seating area]
[Exterior view of grain elevators from across the Buffalo River]
Grain elevators and railyard views from 41 Hamburg St, Buffalo, NY, site of Waterfront Memories and More Museum, photos by Kate Kaye in early 2020
[Exterior view of grain elevators and Buffalo River, facing southwest towards the Ohio street bridge]
[Exterior view of grain elevators and north side of the Buffalo river, facing the Ohio street bridge and rail cars]
[Exterior view of grain elevators from the north side of the Buffalo River, facing south east]
[Exterior view of rail cars and grain elevators on the north side of the Buffalo River]
[Exterior view of rail cars and grain elevators on the north side of the Buffalo River, facing west]
Stairway at brewery built inside former Cooperative Grange League Federation (GLF) grain elevator at Buffalo RiverWorks, Ganson St., Buffalo, NY.
Stairway at brewery built inside former Cooperative Grange League Federation (GLF) Grain Elevator at Buffalo RiverWorks, Ganson St., Buffalo, NY., photo by Kate Kaye in early 2020.
"Window" cut from former Cooperative Grange League Federation (GLF) Grain Elevator at Buffalo RiverWorks, Ganson St., Buffalo, NY.
"Window" cut from former Cooperative Grange League Federation (GLF) Grain Elevator at Buffalo RiverWorks, Ganson St., Buffalo, NY., photo by Kate Kaye in early 2020.
Outside former Cooperative Grange League Federation (GLF) Grain Elevator at Buffalo RiverWorks, Ganson St., Buffalo, NY
Outside former Cooperative Grange League Federation (GLF) Grain Elevator at Buffalo RiverWorks, Ganson St., Buffalo, NY., photo by Kate Kaye in early 2020.
Steve Baczkowski, musician, music curator at Buffalo’s contemporary arts center Hallwalls and Buffalo grain elevator sound enthusiast
Installations (Art)--New York (State)--Buffalo
“Banging, creaking, popping, sliding, scraping: every sound you could imagine. Sometimes it sounded like a person screaming, the way the wind moved through there.” As a kid, Steve Baczkowski sneaked into Buffalo’s abandoned grain elevators to hear what his sax might sound like bouncing around their concrete canyons. So, when the longtime music curator at Buffalo’s contemporary arts center Hallwalls got a chance to keep watch over a robotic electronic sound installation inside a grain elevator, his sound nerd alarm bells rang. Steve camped out inside the Marine A elevator to watch over an art installation at what had become known as Silo City for the month of September 2019, playing his sax and didgeridoo, hearing ghostly sounds, diverting rain, and even witnessing a Buffalo Bills fan's life-affirming experience through art. Baczkowski was interviewed in early 2020 by Kate Kaye. NOTE: This story features detailed descriptions of grain elevator acoustics and internal and external post-industrial environments.
Baczkowski, Steve