Chicago Innovations That Changed the World-- Part 8: Fred Hatch's Farm Silo

11. THE FARM SILO (1873). I'll go into detail on this one as I live in Spring Grove and the name. Until 1973, grain was stored for the winter in pits instead of a tower as you see all over the place today. //// Fred Hatch, of Spring Grove, Illinois, had just graduated from the Illinois Industrial University which eventually became the University of Illinois. With his knowledge, he and his father, Lewis Hatch, built the very first tower silo (but not one you'd recognize today). //// Back at the school, Fred Hatch found agricultural textbooks to be scarce and some had to be translated from French and German by Professor Willard H. Bliss. According to the European books, silage storage meant burying the entire corn plant in pits. He took the idea and expanded on it by extending the hole upward above the ground. //// The Hatches lined a 6-foot-deep pit in their barn with rocks and mortar and over the years kept building higher. Eventually their new silo reached the height of 16 feet inside their barn. They built a floor in their pit of double ply floorboard lined with tar paper. //// This new design (and inside a barn) reduced rain spoilage and made it faster to fill, pack and empty than the pits. //// Eventually, they moved it outside and put a roof on it and you had today's silos. //// Thanks, Fred. --Cooter