1950-1959:

• 1950 Walker Elevator is destroyed by fire, and is rebuilt

• 1952 Frank sells his interest to Vic, Bob, Norb & John

• 1959 Solon adds a new feed mill & elevator

In 1950, the grain elevator in Walker, Iowa, owned by Frank Takes and Thomas Gardner, was destroyed by fire. The railroad lease became available and FJ Krob purchased the property. A new elevator was constructed, which consisted of six small silos all connected together with another interior bin. The new construction cost about $15,000. By this time Norb’s dust allergy had improved, so he moved to Walker to manage the new location.

In the early 1950’s, Frank bought four 37,000 bushel quonset buildings so they could store corn for the government. It was a tough year, and they ran out of money. “It was a nightmare,” said Bob Krob. There was a period of a couple weeks or so where they beat the system by hand delivering ten thousand dollar checks from one elevator to the other and surviving on the float.

Frank Krob remained active in the elevator business until 1952 when he sold out his interest to Vic, Bob, Norb, and John Phillips. They operated as a partnership for a few years and then incorporated in February of 1955.

On one occasion Frank was sitting in on a monthly meeting with the four young managers when he remarked, “You kids waste more than I used to make."

Staying in business often requires creativity to handle difficult times. One year there was a particularly large bean harvest. At that time Iowa Milling Company was the only bean plant in town and the line of trucks was many hours long. They solved that by pooling all their trucks, plus some trucks that they leased from farmers. The drivers would just park their trucks in line and then grab the first Krob truck that got unloaded. Bob stayed there and kept moving the trucks up in line. He stayed there for at least twenty four hours before someone relieved him. This way they could operate 25 or so trucks with only about ten drivers. This practice of one driver moving several trucks in line has perpetuated to this day, although circumstances where it becomes necessary or practical are few and far between.

In spite of the improvements in equipment, grain handling still required a lot of physical labor. Most of the corn was still delivered on the ear. They worked hard handling 3000-4000 bushels of ear corn per day, then spending all summer shelling it out and hauling the cobs to Cedar Rapids. The years 1952, ’53, and ’54 were big harvests, and the Rowley elevator alone handled over 200,000 bushels. Yields were increasing dramatically, reaching the 100-bushel mark during those years.

In 1956, a truck was set up for bulk fertilizer spreading at Ely. Bulk fertilizer was shipped in and stored in the quonset. Two years later, Walker and Rowley set up a fertilizer truck of their own. In 1964, a dry fertilizer blend plant was built in Walker, and in 1969, Solon followed suit.

This time period was characterized by large expansions of grain storage at all of the Krob locations. There were more concrete grain tanks built at Walker and Rowley than at Ely or Solon, simply because there was more grain to be had in those areas. More tanks were built every two years and they always added one or two. A man named Chuck Lauters, along with a crew of African American men from the south, built most of them. The crews always found a place in town to stay during the projects. Chuck stayed in a little motor home next to the office. In Solon, the crew stayed at the home of John and Martha Phillips. In Walker, there was an elderly couple, Mr. & Mrs. Danny Mahoney, who took in roomers. Norb sent Chuck over to Danny and asked him about keeping some of his crew. Danny said, "Sure, send them over." Chuck told him, "I didn't tell you they are Black." Danny said, "I didn't ask you what color they are." The Mahoney’s treated them just like family.

In 1959, a new feed mill and elevator was erected in Solon. This new facility was extremely progressive for the time, with the elevator featuring 57000 bushels of grain storage (of which 12000 was overhead), an electric hoist for raising and dumping wagons, and a 600 bushel receiving pit. The mill had eight bulk bins supplied by a dedicated leg, a Bryant-Poff hammer mill, a corn sheller, and an oat huller.