Company History

Our History

Goodwine Office

The Goodwine Cooperative Grain company is the oldest operating cooperative elevator still in business in the state of Illinois. The company was incorporated on October 15, 1889. The incorporators were J.H. Rosenberry, Alonzo Carman, Jehu Judy, Robert J. Geddes, and John H. Hoffman. Sixty-seven stockholders subscribed for $3000.00 of the capital stock, which was the original amount issued.

The Goodwine facility, which is where the main office is located today, was the original facility. In 1920, the Alonzo elevator was built 3 miles east of Goodwine. In 1995 the Fountain Creek facility, originally known as Hopwood, was added. The Bryce facility was purchased in 2001 and the East Lynn storage facility was purchased in 2007.

Today, the company has 5 locations with over 4 million bushels of storage, and 15 full time employees. The current members of the Board of Directors are Bruce Crist (President), Steve Rapp (Vice President), Robert Geddes (Secretary), Bill Betka, Doug Van Hoveln, Keith Knapp, and Brent Neukomm.

Goodwine Coop Timeline

Alonzo

1889 – Goodwine Grain Company Incorporated. Sixty-seven stockholders subscribed for $3,000 of the capital stock, which was the original amount issued. The par value of the shares was $25.
1914 – Original charter expired. The duration of the corporation was extended twenty-five years, and the capital stock increased to $5,000.
1919 – Proposal to build another elevator three miles east of Goodwine. Special meeting of stockholders was called for the purpose of increasing capital stock to $40,000 and to change to the co-operative plan. The name changed to Goodwine Coop Grain Company.
1920 – A contract between Goodwine Coop and Smith and Fring Construction Company was signed for an elevator 3 miles east of Goodwine.
1920 – John Galloway was hired as manager at Alonzo.
1935 – On December 20th, the Board of Directors met to sign a contract between Goodwine Coop and Lewis Meyers of Woodworth for construction of the present elevator at Goodwine. The total cost of the elevator and machinery was $8,650.00 This replaced the elevator which was destroyed by fire earlier in the year.
1938 – An agreement was signed with Illinois Power Company to add electricity at Alonzo.
1941 – The company purchased the undivided portion of the bank building from the Farmer’s State Bank of Goodwine for the amount of $500. This building is the present office.
1956 – On May 3rd, the Board of Directors met with S.J. Hoffman & Sons of Cissna Park to purchase two concrete, stave silos measuring 24′ x 50′ for 35,000 bushel storage. The silos cost the sum of $14,545 including the machinery to load and unload.
1957 – The third concrete, stave silo was purchased from S.J. Hoffman & Sons on July 15th for the amount of $6,950 including the machinery.
1958 – On January 16th, the stockholders voted 79 yes and 2 no to eliminate the managers position at Alonzo and to have the manager at Goodwine operate both elevators.
1959 – On February 20th, the directors met with Sam Koehl to purchase a grain storage bin. They purchased a Butler Bin, size 50′ x 160′ x 14′ for the sum of $29,702.
1960 – The company purchased a second storage bin, the same size, for the amount of $28,438.
1965 – At the annual meeting, the stockholders voted to increase the number of shares to 1,000 and to change the date the fiscal year ends to the present August 31st.
1969 – The dryer and first large storage bin at Alonzo were purchased on May 14th, for the amount of $82,900.
1972 – Alonzo’s second large storage bin was purchased on February 8th for the sum of $53,293. This brought the storage capacity to 320,000 bu at Alonzo.
1973 – An overhead bin at Goodwine was purchased bringing the total storage capacity of Goodwine to 345,000 bu.
1975 – A new office and scale were completed at Alonzo in time for the wheat harvest.
1976 – In the spring of the year, a third large storage bin was erected at Alonzo, along with a new dump pit and a new 7,5000 BPH receiving leg. The bin was a Columbian and had a capacity of 100,000 bushels. Total cost of the project was $140,000.
1979 – The Missouri Pacific Railroad abandoned the line that ran to the Alonzo elevator.
1982 – In the summer, the Coop purchased a new cement silo from Hoffman Silo Company for the Alonzo location. The silo was designed to hold wet corn at harvest to speed up receiving time. It had a capacity of 45,000 bu. They also added a second 7,500 BPH receiving leg and new pit along with an electric manlift at Alonzo. The total cost of the project was $153,000.
1982 – In the fall, due to burdensome supplies of grain, a decision was made to lease a large steel bin from the Brock Bin Company with an option to buy. The bin was erected at a cost of $168,000 and had a storage capacity of 240,000 bushels.
This brought the total storage capacity of Goodwine and Alonzo to 1,065,000 bushels.
1983 – The office at Goodwine was remodeled to create more office space.
1985 – On September 3rd, the Claytonville Farmers Grain & Coal Company was purchased at a total cost of $150,000. The storage capacity of Claytonville at that time was 486,000 bushels which increased the total company storage to 1,551,000 bushels.
It was decided that all three facilities, Goodwine, Alonzo, and Claytonville, would be operated as one, with Goodwine being the main office.
1986 – The Board of Directors passed a motion on April 14th, to purchase a second large Brock Bin with a capacity of 240,000 bushels to be built at Goodwine by Hendrix Town & Country from Herscher, IL. Total cost of this project was $160,000. This brought total storage capacity to over 1,700,000 bushels.
1987 – The board decided to purchase a 10,000 BPH leg at Goodwine along with equipment to fill and unload the Brock bins. This system also gave the elevator the capacity to load 10-15 railroad car units in one day.
Total cost of the project was $157,000.
1988 – A motion was approved on November 7th, to purchase a 42′ x 80′ FBI truck and storage shed to be built at Goodwine for a cost of $15,223.