Casterline Seeds Then and Now

110 First Avenue

It’s startling when a building you’ve taken for granted your entire life suddenly gets wrecked. All it takes is a little Kansas weather to rip your complacency to shreds.

The lots at the southeast corner of First Avenue and Maple Street were vacant until the mid-1880s. The 1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows a small feed yard where First Avenue dead-ended at Maple. By 1892, the lots were again vacant.

The 1905 Sanborn shows a residential area with a frame dwelling and large barn at what was then 615-616 Maple Street. Street numbers were standardized around 1909 and this property was assigned 117 Maple Street.

Brothers William and Edison Rhinehart built a grain elevator just south of this corner in 1923. They also sold bulk coal, salt, oyster shells, and livestock feed.

Offices were added to the north end of the elevator in early 1924.

The 1926 Sanborn shows the Rhinehart Brothers Grain and Coal Co. with a rail siding through the south alley in addition to the siding which ran down the middle of Maple. A new three-story addition measuring approximately 20 x 14 feet was completed in 1927, which made room for the machinery needed to grind and mix feed.

In March of 1940, William and his wife, Nellie, were involved in a car accident about 12 miles south of Dodge City. Nellie was killed and the building was sold shortly thereafter.

Fairmont Creamery expanded into the former Rhinehart building in the early 1940s, using it for their feed and hatchery departments. Additional concrete block buildings were added to the east along both rail sidings. By this time, the original elevator dock area was assigned a street address of 110 First Avenue.

Around 1957, Fairmont vacated the building and it became occupied by the (Floyd T) Harris & Sons Hatchery. Harris & Sons relocated to 14th and Beeson around 1960 and the Casterline era began.

Interestingly, this 1961 promo guide claimed the Casterline & Sons Seeds facility was the oldest grain elevator in Dodge City, which was still standing. That was false. The older Davidson elevator at Sycamore and Sunnyside was built in 1915.

This aerial view looking southeast toward the river shows the Casterline facility southeast of the flour mill and directly east of Fairmont.

Looking northwest, you can see the warehouse addition, which curved along the old rail siding at the south end.

The Casterlines owned the building for many years after the elevator ceased operations. It became occupied by Southland Industrial Supply and then sat on the market for several years.

Although this listing is no longer active, you can still click through the photo gallery to see several interior and exterior photos. If you look at the Street View on Google Maps, you can scroll through images of the property going back to 2007.

The elevator was severely damaged by storms in the summer of 2023 and partial demolition was required. The office area has been gutted and work appears to be in progress for reuse.

This is how the property looks today:

I’m glad most of the building was saved and sincerely hope it is restored to a more historical appearance. Those windows are just too much for color TV.

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