My grandfather Warren Sargent co-founded the Todd & Sargent construction company, which builds grain elevators and associated projects. Growing up, I was always fascinated that my Grandpa owned a big company that built big things. A successful family business seemed like a wonderful thing, sadly I have never been able to become a part of it, although my Uncle Phil (Executive Vice-President of Todd & Sargent) did hire me to design their company web site several years ago. It is at www.tsargent.com. For some reason they didn't want to buy or use the domain toddandsargent.com, so I decided to make this informational web site on my own. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Todd & Sargent Inc.
Young Warren Sargent
Young Warren Sargent
During his high school years, Warren Sargent felt his future would be best served by starting his own business, preferably contracting. He graduated from Iowa State College in 1939 with a degree in Civil Engineering. After a few jobs in the steel business and military service during World War II, he met George Todd. On October 1, 1958 an equal partnership, called Todd & Sargent Construction Company, was formed between George and Warren. George's part financially was tools and equipment and Warren's part was $4,000. George had previously been in business for himself building wood cribbed elevators and wood feedmills while Warren's background had been in the steel industry.
1959 Union, Iowa - Wood Cribbed Elevator
Warren & George continued their business partnership until January 1, 1962. At that time, a five year buyout was agreed upon and Warren became the sole owner of the company. The company name was changed to Todd & Sargent, Inc. George continued with the company for several years until his health forced him to retire. Until the 1950's, most country elevators were of wood cribbed construction. With this method, boards were nailed one on top of the other until the desired bin height was reached. Crib grade lumber, varying in size from 2 x 4 to 2 x 8, was shipped by rail boxcar from the lumber mill to the jobsite. When the foundation was completed, the cribbing began. At some point, heavy timbers were spaced at a diagonal and later floored over to form the hopper. When finished, the exterior was covered with galvanized metal sheeting. The last wood cribbed structure that Todd & Sargent built was a 165,000 bushel annex for Farmers Coop Elevator in Lincoln, Iowa in 1966. Limited bin capacity, susceptibility to fire and termite damage and a higher construction cost per bushel led to the demise of wood structures in the Midwest.
1958 Goodman Milling - State Center, Iowa
Although riveted steel bins were being built at the turn of the 20th century, the amount of interior bracing needed to support the walls interfered with the flow of ingredients. Beginning with a feedmill for Jarrard Feed and Supply Company in Washington, Iowa in 1961, Warren began designing bins with the bracing on the outside. Since this was an unexplored field, structural engineers were retained to do stress-strain studies to determine the strength of the bins. The end result, developed over a period of years, was the distinctive Todd & Sargent bins with their welded design that required no internal stiffeners. This produced a perfectly smooth interior surface. Bins emptied out completely between batches with no hang-up of stale feed or grain to contaminate fresh material.
Typical Todd & Sargent Steel Bins
In 1969, Todd & Sargent proposed a steel feedmill for Ceres Land Company in Sterling Colorado. The customer said "Concrete'' and Warren said "Can Do''. That is when jacks and Georgia buggies were added to our vocabulary and slipforming was added to our construction methods. With concrete construction, larger facilities could be built more economically. With larger farms, higher yields and increasing overseas markets, farmers were faced with insufficient on-farm storage and they began moving their grain to the local country elevator. This created the terminal elevator boom of the 1970's and 1980's. Structures went from 150,000 bushel elevators in 1971 to two million bushel facilities in 1980.
1966 Farmers Coop Elevator - Lincoln, Iowa
During the 1980's, Todd & Sargent continued to build concrete feedmills and grain elevators, a million bushel rice storage and drying facility, installed equipment in a sunflower processing plant and built wheat terminals and flourmills. Todd & Sargent also built conveyor bridges and towers, stacker conveyors and tunnels, slipped flyash bins and slipped liners in coal silos.
1969 Ceres Land Company - Sterling, Colorado
1975 International Multifoods - Valley City, North Dakota
A Brief Timeline of Select Milestones:
October 1, 1958: The partnership of Todd & Sargent Construction Company began between George Todd and Warren Sargent.
1959: Todd & Sargent built their first steel feedmill. One of those first steel feedmills was built for Goodman Milling in State Center, Iowa.
1962: Warren became sole owner and changed the name to Todd & Sargent, Inc.
1963: Todd & Sargent was constructing a new feedmill for Hintzche Brothers in Troxel, Illinois and Farmers Coop in Colo, Iowa.
1964: The first company airplane, a Cessna 140, was purchased.
1969: George Todd retired but remained on the Board of Directors. The first concrete slipformed structure was constructed for Ceres Land Company in Sterling, Colorado.
1971: Lee M. Sargent was elected Vice-president of the firm. Slipform feedmills were going up for Farmers Coop in St. Paul, Minnesota and Vitamash Feeds in Storm Lake, Iowa.
1973: George Todd retired from the Board of Directors. Concrete silos were being added at Farmers Coop Exchange in Pella, Iowa and Clarence Cooperative in Clarence, Iowa.
1976: The first Todd & Sargent men's softball team was formed. Todd & Sargent was building silos for Sully Coop in Sully, Iowa, Farmers Coop in Earlham, Iowa, Farmers Coop Elevator in Nevada, Iowa and for West Central Coop in Ralston, Iowa.
1978: Todd & Sargent upgraded the corporate plane to a Cessna 182. Todd & Sargent softball team won League Championship Title with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss.
1980: George Todd passed away after a lengthy illness. Todd & Sargent broke ground for a 3,200 square foot office addition at 620 Arrasmith Trail to accommodate business growth. This included a new marketing area, executive offices, lunch room and conference room.
1982: Todd & Sargent was building elevators for Alden Coop in Alden, Iowa, Farmers Coop Grain Company in Bellwood, Nebraska; Farmers Coop Elevator in Bondurant, Iowa; Cargill, Inc. in Dawson, Iowa; Northwood Coop Elevator in Northwood, Iowa; South Soo Grain Company in South Sioux City, Nebraska; Agrex, Inc. in Enola, Nebraska; Farmers Coop Company, Garden City, Iowa; Glenwood Terminal Inc. in Glenwood, Indiana and Alleman Coop Company in Slater, Iowa.
This website was designed and is hosted by Benjamin Sargent Samuels (www.samuelsdesign.com).
