Several years ago traveling across the Plains from South Dakota to Colorado, and being an art historian, I became very aware of how the grain elevators were similar to many aspects of the great cathedrals of Europe.  The 11th C to 13th C cathedrals served, beyond their spiritual functions, as guideposts to the people on pilgrimages, a community social and trade center, a place of physical and spiritual protection  and a place of receiving  fulfillment for the physical and spiritual needs of man.   Grain elevators serve the same, or similar, functions in that they are seen from a long distance identifying a town,  storage for produce for trade and usually with a café/coffee shop attached or very nearby, a social and educational gathering place.  Although just beginning this foray with my camera, I plan to continue to preserve these monuments.