The following are aerial photos taken by local photographer Tom Root of the ConAgra facility throughout the years, beginning in 1949 when it was completed.

The facility was first known as the Eastern States Farmers Exchange. Electric powered huletts went down into the ships to bring up buckets of iron ore and drop it into the waiting railroad cars. A second freighter is anchored nearby, waiting to be unloaded.

By 1974, the Huletts were gone and the ore docks had closed. The Huron Ore Dock Co. began a small operation there, utilizing the self-unloaders on today’s freighters. The Huron Boat Basin, at the right, was the showcase of the Urban Renewal project started in 1968.

Railroad cars line up in front of what was then known as the Con Agra facility in 1998.  The grain facility closed in 2001.

To view more photos, visit the Huron Chamber of Commerce, 509 Huron St.