page_title: George Armour
section_title: Prospering in Chicago
hierarchical_section_title: George Armour / Prospering in Chicago
caption_attribution_description: English: View of grain elevators and ships at dock in the Chicago River, Chicago, Illinois.
context_page_description: George Armour was a Scottish American businessman and philanthropist known for his contributions to the global distribution process for commodities. He is credited with developing the grain elevator system, establishing grain trading standards as director and president of the Chicago Board of Trade, founding the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Commercial Club of Chicago, YMCA of Chicago, Merchants' Loan & Trust Company, the precursor to Continental Illinois, and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts which later became the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Art Institute of Chicago. He served as a director of several notable companies during his career.
  As founder of Armour, Dole & Co and other firms, he created the first extensive system of large mechanized grain elevators in Chicago and thus enabled the shipment of grains from the American Midwest to destinations all over the world. During his tenure, the CBT standardized the grading and selling of grains and established the first commodity futures markets. He was "popularly known as the father of the grain elevator system" or as a "rapacious, blood sucking insect."
context_section_description: In Chicago, Armour reunited with George Steel – who had become a prosperous Chicago businessman. In 1852–1853 Steel was president of Chicago Board of Trade. In 1856, a new three-story building was erected on Steel's site: an office and warehouse located at the foot of LaSalle Street on South Street and this became the first permanent home for the CBT. Armour was an early member of the CBT and also commenced what became his signature venture – the erection and management of grain elevators.
  Prior to Armour's efforts there had been a small number of what may be termed "grain elevators" constructed in the United States. Dart's Elevator was the world's first steam-powered grain elevator. It was designed and built by Joseph Dart and Robert Dunbar in 1842 in Buffalo, New York.
  The first large steam elevator ever built in Chicago for handling grain from railroad tracks was on the North side, on the Chicago River, west of Wells Street. It was built by George A Gibbs and E W Griffin of Gibbs, Griffin & Company in 1854. It might also have been known as the Chicago & Galena Union Railroad Elevator. 
  In 1854 George Steel took over a warehouse and built another grain elevator just west of the Gibbs, Griffin and Company warehouse. It was capable of operating from the canal as well as the railroads. The elevator had a capacity of 100,000 bushels and was located at Franklin and River streets – in the Chicago & Galena Union Railroad track on North Water Street.
  In that year Steel's warehouse burnt down and Steel sold the property to Wesley Munger and George Armour. Munger had owned a small mill at Waukegan, which had burned down. As Munger & Armour, they built the first modern, steam-driven grain elevator in Chicago. The grain elevator was completed in 1855 and had a capacity of 300,000 bushels.
  Armour's influence as a Chicago businessman grew and Armour was first elected a director of the CBT in 1856.
  In 1860 he joined with Charles Sydney Dole, James Henry Doyle and Wesley Munger and they formed Armour, Dole & Co. The company operated grain elevators at the depot of the CBQ with a capacity of 850,000 bushels. After the American Civil War, Armour, Dole & Co. remained among the city's leading grain warehousers. Their elevators had a combined capacity of 2.1 million bushels in 1871. By the early 1880s, this figure had grown to 6.3 million bushels.
  In 1863, Hiram Wheeler  entered the Munger & Armour, which then became Munger, Wheeler & Co. Armour remained a partner. The company owned large grain elevators next to the depot of the Chicago & North Western Railroad.
  At the Chicago Canal Convention of 1863, Armour was a member of the CBT delegation. 
  The Convention proceedings called for laws and budgets to widen and deepen the Illinois and Michigan Canal and thus make it possible for ships to sail between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.
caption: Munger & Armour grain elevator, Chicago, IL, 1868?
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