North Country At Work

Borden’s milk plant featuring two large ice houses (the two large buildings to the right) to store ice to keep milk cold. Circa 1900-1910. De Kalb Junction, NY.

Henry F. Nevin winter milk delivery carriage/car on bobsled runners. The carriage was hand-painted, and brought fresh milk door to door. Nevin blew a whistle to call the housewives from their homes. Ogdensburg, NY. Circa 1900.

Unidentified man and woman  outside the Grimm Cheese Factory in Harrisville. On right is a winch which was  used to lift fifty gallon milk cans up.  Round pressing boards, used for pressing wheels of cheese, are scattered around the yard. Cheesecloth was hung out to dry (doorway of building). Circa 1890-1900. Harrisville, NY.

Milk plant (name unknown) next to the railroad tracks and river. Owned by Nestles prior to WWI; during the war the plant made condensed milk for the war effort. The plant employed 150 people and Ernest Rogers was the superintendent. The plant later sold to the Dairyman’s League (circa 1930), and then sold again in […]

Cheese factory near Nye home. Fifty gallon milk cans seen on milk wagon, being lifted by winch for unloading. Caption says: Uncle Jerome Nye wearing white shirt, Uncle is driving Old Bill. Circa 1890s. Harrisville, NY.

The factory produced 25,000 cans in the morning and filled them in the afternoon. Pictured is the room where milk was condensed – steam cabinet on right, and canning equipment on left. Circa 1910-1920. Hermon, NY.

Interior shot of the Northern Condensed Milk Factory Company plant in Hermon. They made 25,000 cans in the morning and filled them in the afternoon. Pictured is the room where tin cans were manufactured with two employees posing with equipment. Circa 1910-1920. Hermon, NY.

Thousand Island Cheese factory picturing the milk receiving dock. Circa 1900. Chippewa Bay in Hammond, NY.

Exterior shot of the Dairymen’s League Cooperative Milk Plant in Hammond, which shows washed milk cans being conveyed out of  the plant – full cans would have been received on the other side of the building. Circa late 1940s. Hammond, NY. Related story, here.

Dan Babcock (who lived from 1849-1916) in front of one of his cheese factories (one in Chippewa and one in Pleasant Valley). Circa 1900. Chippewa Bay, NY.