A storm damaged a Roquette grain elevator in Illinois in 2023
More than 150 farmers gathered in La Harpe, Ill., to celebrate the reopening of a grain elevator.
The Roquette grain elevator is at full capacity after a derecho in 2023 nearly destroyed it.
That storm in June 2023 affected people in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Illinois. It left more than 300,000 people without power and damaged multiple buildings in its wake.
From the time the storm ended, Roquette reps established the commitment to rebuild.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Mike Falk, the La Harpe elevator manager, told WGEM in November 2024.
The reconstruction of the facility at 201 Toledo Peoria and Western Railroad saw four of its five grain bins built from scratch.
In February 2025, construction on the first bin, a 90-foot bin with a capacity of about 400,000 bushels of grain, wrapped up.
Total capacity is up from 760,000 to 860,000 bushels. The elevator has larger grain pits, and the average dump time is only three minutes, WGEM reported on Oct. 30.
Farmers who attended the reopening are pleased to see it come to fruition.
This includes Richard Apt, who became the first farmer to deliver grain to the facility since the rebuild.
“I think they’ve done a beautiful job of putting it back. It took two years to do it, but it’s really a nice facility,” he told WGEM.
His name is forever connected to the elevator as he received a framed copy of his ticket.