Tonganoxie ? Speculation the past several weeks that the Leavenworth County Co-op would purchase the now-closed Eudora Feed and Grain was just that — speculation.

The five-member Leavenworth County Co-op board discussed the matter at its meeting last week.

“We made the decision not to pursue purchasing that particular piece of property,” said Karol Lohman, general manager of Leavenworth County Co-op.

About a month ago, Jim Carpenter closed the 90-year-old elevator and auctioned most of its equipment. At the time, he was hopeful the elevator would be bought and reopened. Those hopes have dimmed, according to one of Carpenter’s employees.

Although Leavenworth County Co-op isn’t interested in the grain elevator, which is located at the north end of Main Street along the railroad tracks in Eudora, the cooperative is interested in serving farmers in that area.

“We do want to go into that area with some options and some services and grow in that area with agronomy and petroleum,” Lohman said.

And in the short-term, the co-op will put pencil to paper, trying to determine how to service additional farmers while still protecting its existing operations in Leavenworth County.

“We want to add on equipment and labor, and service some of the immediate needs this upcoming season out of our existing facility,” Lohman said.

Then the cooperative will look at other options, including the optimum location based on the potential customer base.

“We do have some ideas about how to get down there immediately,” Lohman said. “But with the type of business that it is, you don’t jump into this overnight.”

Carpenter said he closed the Eudora elevator largely because of health reasons.

The elevator served about 100 farmers in the area, and handled between 2.5 million to 3 million bushels of grain in a year, he said. It employed five people.

— Tonganoxie Mirror editor and publisher Caroline Trowbridge can be reached at (913) 845-2222.