KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind. — In nearly every rural town in Indiana more than 40 years ago, there was a grain elevator that marked the otherwise diminutive skyline, and Knightstown Elevator, Inc. (KEI) has continued to prosper under the steady hand of owner Thomas Haase.

But to listen to Haase, the Knightstown community has as much to do with the success of the family business as anything he’s done. He purchased the elevator from Ed Springer in 1973.

“Ed Springer made it possible for me to purchase the elevator and offered to back me in any way he could, and beyond him the entire community has been very nice to the Haase family,” he said.

To mark that growth and expansion, KEI will host an open house, Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Attendees can register for a flat-screen television and view new products in the renovated store, located at 4 W. Grant Street in Knightstown. “We have renovated and have more products in the store: Sullivan Show Supplies, Ferti-lome and Hi-Yield lawn and garden and a full line of pet supplies. We maintain high-quality products not carried by ‘big box’ stores,” said Mark Haase, KEI manager.

When Thomas Haase, 78, first began in the elevator business, the business had a coal yard and hauled coal to residents and businesses. He said there were three coal yards in town.

Wheat was the major cash crop for farmers in the 1960s, he added. Picking corn on the ear to feed livestock and store in cribs was the standard operating procedure. Now, of course, corn and soybeans have replaced wheat as the cash crop in Indiana. “We’ve gone from picking corn as ear corn and storing in cribs to shelling with a combine, drying artificially and storing it in bins. We started with no storage, to 70,000 bushels’ storage space. In that same period, coal degenerated,” he explained.

As farms have grown bigger, the volume of grain delivered per day has increased.

“We dump 25,000-50,000 bushels of corn per day in the fall,” Thomas Haase said. “In the (19)60s, all fall we’d dump a total of 25,000 bushels of corn.”

Upgrades to the elevator also helped meet the changing needs of farmers. Haase said he used to dump 2,000 bushels per hour and can now dump 8,000. The grain business changed again when the nearby railroad closed in 1974, Haase said. “Years ago we trucked little grain. Now we truck (all of) it,” he said.

“Every little town had an elevator: Pendleton, Muncie, Shelbyville, Dunreith ... Now our primary competition is not other elevators. It’s large corporations, like Bunge and Cargill, and ethanol plants.”

There are 380 off-farm grain storage facilities in Indiana and 8,701 in the United States. As recently as 1988, there were 662 in Indiana and 13,802 nationally, according to USDA statistics.

As other elevators closed, Haase diversified his business by selling seed, fertilizer and inputs, livestock and pet feed and 4-H show supplies. He also bought a farm near Knightstown, which has contributed to the health of the overall business, he said. “It was supposed to be a hobby farm,” said his wife, Judy, who drove tractors, distributed meals in the field and helped manage the farm, as well as run errands for the elevator.

Over the years the farm grew to 3,000 acres producing corn and soybeans. For 10 years Haase also raised hogs. The farm is now managed by their oldest son, Bryan Haase.

Between the elevator and the farm, the Haases employee eight people. “Over the years we’ve had lots of good employees who have made this possible,” Haase said. The elevator is now being managed by their second son, Mark. Under him, the business provides landscaping services, as well.

“Tom has done a good job turning the business over to the boys. He lost his father at 12, but the people in the community came alongside him,” Judy said. One of those people was Wilbur Weimer, who filled the role of “substitute dad” after Haase’s dad died. Haase lived with Weimer and helped on his farm.

“The primary reason we’re still here is good decisions. Wilbur Weimer and Ed Springer taught me good principles to live by: be conservative, think first before you jump, try again if you fail. Honesty is the first thing. People in the grain business sometimes weren’t honest. You have to be loyal, and you have to work,” Haase said.

For him in the early days, harvest time sometimes meant 24 hours at the elevator, punctuated by naps on piles of feed sacks. “In the fall I got home three to four nights a week,” he recalled.

Mark respects the hard work of his parents. “Our past and current employees, and family, are blessed to have had the leadership and examples that my parents have exhibited throughout their lives. I have always respected them for their dedication, hard work and commitment to our business, as well as serving and giving back to a community that has been so very good to the Haase family,” he said.