History

On January 1, 1947, John L. and Grace V. Kratz purchased the West Bend Elevator, located at 204 Wisconsin Street. For 120 years West Bend Elevator had been serving its customers from a modest site beside the railroad tracks, just off downtown West Bend. At the hemmed-in downtown site, West Bend Elevator had no room for expansion.  Expansion was very much in the plans of this family operation.

                 In 1970, John and Grace made the decision to move to a less congested area.  The company began buying parcels of land, a sliver at a time. Eventually 10 acres were purchased just beyond the city's northern outskirts.

                As the years passed, more and more of the business was transferred from downtown to the country location.  In May of 1980 the process was complete.  Since that date the West Bend Elevator is at their current location of 3434 Hwy D.

               John and Grace worked hand in hand from the beginning. Grace did the books and John oversaw the rest of the business.  In January of 1987, John passed away.  At that time Dave and Joyce Gonring (John and Grace's daughter and son-in-law) took over the business.  They have both been working at the Elevator for the past 38 years.  Today, Dave and Joyce along with their children and employees, continue to give the same type of quality service. 

                                 from left to right: Joyce Gonring, Dave Gonring, and Doug Gonring

               The West Bend Elevator consists of an automated feed mill, nutritional services, bulk delivery, a retail country store, tack room, a seed cleaning plant, a corn cracking system, and four storage buildings for salt, grain, product, and equipment.  In addition West Bend Elevator has added a full service landscape department that has been providing customers services over the past few years.  The Elevator is also capable of handling 360,000 bushel of grain storage. Along with all of these the Elevator maintains a fleet of 20 trucks and a total of 30 full and part time employees.

              Service is the key.  The staff treats the customers the way they themselves would like to be treated.  Heavy bags of feed, salt, fertilizer, or even a tree are always loaded for the customer. The West Bend Elevator also offers a convenient home delivery service.  Whether you are a large farming operation or a weekend gardener, West Bend Elevator has what you need.  Visit our retail store and discover why the West Bend Elevator is more than just a feed mill!