A Short History of Assorted Creameries between Middletown and Unionville New
York
by John Deserto
Pounds Station
- Pound and Thorn Creamery was in place before the turn of the
20th century.
- Sheffield Farms Slawson – Decker Company purchased it before
April 10, 1913.
- November 1, 1916 Sheffield Farms closed the Pound’s Station
Creamery.
- June 1917 Middletown Milk and Cream Company purchased and
reopen building
- January 1,
1926 Middletown Milk and Cream sold this plant to the Dairyman’s League
Co-Operative Association Inc.
Slate
Hill
The “Original” Creamery
- January 1896 L.L. Campbell build creamery, operated by Clover
Farm Dairy,
- August 8, 1927 Photographic evidence shows that it was gone.
- ice house from this creamery burned on April 29, 1932
The “B” Plant
- March 1, 1916 Clover Farms opened a second creamery in Slate
Hill
- June 1918 the Hires Condensed Milk Company bought creamery,
switched to producing condensed milk
- March 1920 Nestle’s company purchase Hires and take over
operation
- September 1920 Nestles closed the plant.
- September 1925 Slate Hill Milk and Cream operating this
building
-June 1936 M&U milk trains were working this creamery
-The “B” plant is now the home of Balchem Corp. and up until
the summer of 2002 was still a railroad customer.
“A” Plant
- One
source notes it was built in 1922 and occupied in early 1923. Another source
states it was built in November of 1924. There is also some question as who
built it. One source states it was Middletown Milk and Feed Company,
another source states it was Middletown Milk and Cream.
- June 1936
last shipment of milk from Slate Hill occurred
- Around
1940 the “A” plant and “B” plant operations were consolidated in the “B” plant
building and operated under the Middletown Creami-Rich Dairy label.
- The “A”
plant is home to an automotive/engine rebuilding business.
Alleva
- 1892
Francesco Alleva Imported and Domestic Cheese Company in operation
- mid-1980’s
Alleva Cheese building was torn down and a large metal storage building was
erected at that location.
Johnson
Borden’s
- 1892 Borden’s Farm Products Company or New York Condensed
Milk Company built the Johnson creamery/bottling plant
- 1903 J.M Lathrup map this building and ice houses were owned
by the Borden’s Company.
- 1894 Borden’s added a boiler house became an early producer
of bottled milk.
- August 18, 1941, last rail shipment from plant, last milk
train on the M&U
- November 1950 rails in siding taken up
- August 1966 building sold to the Dellwood Creamery
- July 1973 plant demolished.
WESTTOWN
Pound and Thorn
- 1871 Pound and Thorn creamery operating and served by the
railroad
- November 16 1916 Hires Condensed Milk Company purchased
- March 1920 the Nestles Company purchase Hires
- September 1920 Nestles closed all it plants along the M&U due
to surplus of condensed milk
- 1922 Nestles again shipping fluid milk
- January 29, 1924 Nestles Food Company transfer their lease
Sheffield Farm Creamery.
- July 7, 1932 Sheffield Farm switch primarily to truck
- December 8, 1932 stopped shipping milk out on the M&U
entirely.
- August 1936 Sheffield’s continued to operate at least until
this date.
- Summer 2003 torn down to make way for a private residence.
Borden’s
- Thomas Burry Creamery appears on the 1903 Lathrop map
- March 2, 1906 a Middletown newspaper Borden’s was operating
out of this building
- November 11, 1916 Borden’s sold the creamery to the
Dairymen’s League but continued to run the daily operations of the plant.
- January 29, 1926 Borden’s Creamery in Westtown burned down
but soon rebuilt
- By the 1940’s the Grange League Federation (GLF) was
operating a feed store in the creamery building.
- In more recent times the building was used as a garden
center.
UNIONVILLE
- well before
the MU&WG Samuel Christie built a small creamery Dr. Marcus Hayne, took over
operations
Chardavoyne
- June of 1926 H.S. Chardavoyne Creamery was in operation.
This is currently the earliest date we have for this companies operations but
should not be considered its real start of operations.
- Between May, 1929 and July, 1931, Janssen Dairy purchased
Chardavoyne Dairy. - September, 1962 Janssen had stopped operations.
Richman’s
- March 19, 1914, The earliest record found of William Richman
Creamery operation
- November 16, 1916 Hires Condensed Milk purchased this
- March 1920 Hires was purchased by Nestles.
For more information
including maps, letterheads and pictures please refer to the Unionville Flyer
vol.9 #3.
