Mercersburg / Pennsylvania / United States
Sniders Elevator has been your neighborhood feed store for nearly 80 years. The Sniders corporation was founded in 1929 by B.C. Snider, but the mill in Lemasters has actually been in operation since the spring of 1874. Starting as a warehouse, this was a frame structure measuring 50 by 26 feet, with a slate roof, and was located on the south side of the railroad. It was built by Samuel Plum from Sinking Springs over in Berks County and had a capacity of storing close to 5, 000 bushels of grain. It also had a large place for freight reception and included the post, ticket, express, and freight offices. A ladies and gentlemens waiting room was there as well. After Plums death, the warehouse was sold to brothers John A. and Edgar B. Diehl. They changed the name to Lehmasters Warehouse Company. In 1888, John sold his share of the business to Edgar. The elevator in the first warehouse was operated by horsepower. Later, a well was dug and a wooden pump installed along with a wind tower which furnished water for the steam engine. The engine operated the elevator and cleaner. Unfortunately on Tuesday, June 6, 1905, a terrible fire was started by a passing train which demolished the entire mill. The fire was so bad that the iron rails of the train track expanded and burned the railroad ties. As soon as he could, Edgar Diehl rebuilt the warehouse and elevator. He equipped it with new machinery - the steam power was replaced by a gasoline engine and an iron pump was installed in place of the wooden pump and wind tower. Around 1912, the power to operate the machinery was changed to electricity. In 1914, Edgar got out of the picture and the business was taken over by John A. Diehl, Edward Omwake, George E. Diehl ( Johns son ), and Aaron Myers. They changed the name of the business to Lehmaster Feed and Grain Company. In 1921, John and George Diehl sold their share of the business to Edward Omwake, C.P. Omwake, and Aaron Myers. This time, the name changed to Lehmaster Elevator Company. When 1944 rolled around, Aaron Myers and his sons Eugene G. and J. Richard became the owners of the elevator. They decided to save confusion and keep the name the same this time! Aaron Myers passed away in December of 1970 and his share of the ownership passed to his sons. On April 1st of 1986, the title of the mill passed to Bill and Phyllis Snider. This became the third location of Sniders Elevator, where we have been in operation til this very day.
