Griggs Brothers-Rochester Elevator Company Grain Elevator

The Griggs Brothers/Rochester Elevator Company Grain Elevator is being nominated for the National Register at the local level under Criterion A for its significant role in the emergence of the village of Rochester, Michigan, as a center of agricultural commerce in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The elevator was built in 1880, following the arrival of two railroad lines in Rochester in 1872 and 1879, respectively. It provided a crucial transportation mechanism for shipment of crops and allowed farmers to store their grain until it could be shipped to market at a time when it would command the most advantageous price. The grain elevator was responsible for positioning Rochester as an agricultural marketplace within Oakland County, which led the state of Michigan in wheat production at that time. The grain elevator attracted farmers from the surrounding townships to the village to market their crops and to conduct trade in the downtown business district. The community prospered economically and the elevator was re-organized as a stockholder company in 1909 and expanded to increase its capacity and triple its physical size. The period of significance ranges from original construction in 1880 until 1962, by which time the surrounding farm lands that supported the elevator operation were being sold for housing development and the area was being transformed into a suburban bedroom community. Although the elevator continued to ship crops on an occasional basis until 1976, when the railroad line serving it was abandoned, it had converted to its current use, the retail feed/home and garden supply business, beginning in the late 1950s. The structure has been in continuous commercial use since its original construction, and is the last remaining icon of Rochester's agricultural history.

The Griggs Brothers/Rochester Elevator Company Grain Elevator is a two- and three-story wood frame grain elevator situated at the intersection of East University Drive and Water Street, one block east of Main Street in downtown Rochester, Michigan. The property is part of the suburban community's central business district and its immediate surroundings currently include a post office, public library, a senior living facility and a luxury hotel. At the time of the elevator's original construction on this site in 1880, it was situated alongside an eighteen-acre mill pond on the right-of-way of the Michigan Central Railroad, and directly across the street from the railroad's passenger and freight station. In this pivotal location it served as the center of agricultural commerce for the community and surrounding townships. The structure was enlarged in 1909 and now comprises three sections combined as one standing on mortared fieldstone and concrete foundations, with vertical rough sawn siding exterior and an asphalt shingle roof. The structure has been in continuous use since its 1880 construction, having converted to a retail feed/home and garden store after the abandonment of the railroad line in 1976. It is in good condition and retains excellent integrity. Except for the partial enclosure of an aluminum awning overhanging the scales which was added in the 1980s, the exterior retains its 1909 appearance. The first floor interior has undergone minimal modification to accommodate the storage and display requirements of the current business, and most of the grain elevating apparatus, though non-functioning and not maintained, remains in place.