Ingersoll Tile Elevator
Off US 64, Ingersoll, OKThe Ingersoll Tile Elevator, built between 1915 and 1925, is significant because it reflects the development of wheat as Oklahoma's major agricultural crop (thus adding to the commercial development of Oklahoma as well as Alfalfa County) and also provides an excellent example of developing agricultural technologies around Ingersoll specifically the use of hollow red clay tile as a building material that would provide permanence of location, greater protection from the elements as well as from the possibilities of fire due to combustion and expand storage capacity by making cylindrical bins.
Due to this impetus of this railroad, Ingersoll was plotted and settled in 1901 and rivaled Cherokee in business activities and population. At statehood, in 1907, the citizens of Ingersoll contested the location of the county seat at Cherokee. The population of the town began to decrease following the county's affirmation of Cherokee. By 1909 there were four grain elevators in the town. The building of this hollow red clay tile elevator insured the continued existence of Ingersoll as a visible agricultural community within the county. The 20,000 bushel capacity insured continued commercial intercourse for Ingersoll and prolonged its life as an agricultural community.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.