Sankot Motor Company
building in Iowa, United States of America
The Sankot Motor Company, also known as the Sankot Garage, is a historic building located in Belle Plaine, Iowa, United States. The historical significance of this building is its association with the increase in all-season travel and the development of businesses to serve them along the Lincoln Highway, the United States's first transcontinental route. It is a brick front building with side walls of clay tile that was constructed on a concrete foundation. The west half of the building was added in 1927. It was operated by O.B. Charles and Sid Sankot until 1937. They also sold Chryslers. Gasoline was sold from 1920 to 1944. F.L. Sankot bought the business in 1937. In addition to vehicle repair he sold Case and Oliver tractors and implements. William and Jerry Sankot purchased the business in 1985, and limited it to passenger, commercial and agricultural vehicle repairs.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sankot Motor Company” as building in Iowa, United States of America. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as building in Iowa, United States of America. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q25346120. Authority coordinates are 41.897, -92.276. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927, 1937, 1920 and 1944.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sankot Motor Company”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sankot Motor Company primary sources, Sankot Motor Company archive and Sankot research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sankot Motor Company”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sankot Motor Company” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.