Gilmore Cement

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Howard and Leslie VanAlstine started the Portland Cement Company in 1911.  The operation was located one mile north of the city and proved to be a be a successful business enterprise.  Names associated with the construction of the plant were McLaughlin, Lampher and Esslinger.

 

The cement plant operated in three daily shifts and employed many people from Gilmore City area.  The plant made cement and shipped it to various places.  The company continued to prosper until the Depression when the VanAlstines were forced to sell the plant to General Hanford McNider from Mason City, Iowa.  The proceeds of the sale (one million dollars) enabled the VanAlstine brothers to pay off the debts of the private bank they operated in Gilmore City that had been forced to close at the same time.

 

In the early 1940's, the Brown-Straus Company of Kansas City purchased the rights for all the metal in the cement plant,  All of the pumps, motors, and miscellaneous metals from the plant were removed and it is rumored that Brown-Straus profits were a million dollars. 

 

The cement plants silos were purchased by Cargill, Incorporated in 1946.  Later the silos were purchased by the Farmers Cooperative Company for grain storage.