History of Branchville's Creameries

Creameries were the most integral part of an agricultural ers long past. The farmer needed the creameries and conversely the creameries were in operation at the behest of the farmer.

Most of the early creameries only made butter and cheese as they had no way of keeping their milk cold for any length of time during the summer months. The farmers, too, made their own butter and cheese, selling it in their nearby areas.

The greatest incentive for the construction of creameries was when the railroad arrived in the area. Milk, butter and cheese could then be shipped by rail to the cities providing a market with increased income.

In 1889, Mr. Fulboam started to build a creamery in Branchville with plans to get ice from the mill pond of Crisman. By 1894 he was using this creamery for storage and built another larger creamery. He soon added a cheese room.

Then in 1892 Charles Peters built a creamery in Augusta on the west side of the brook near the train tracks. This creamery was receiving 350 cans of milk or 14,000 quarts daily by 1899.

The Pellettown Creamery (Papakating) opened in 1897. When the Borden Co. purchased the Papakating Creamery, more land was aquired to enlarge the operation. A few years later, when under construction, the framework blew down. Borden suffered a temporary loss as did the Branchville Creamery due to a fire. Augusta Creamery spurred the construction of a factory nearby. It was a national nutrient company known as the Powder Milk Co. or Baking Powder Co. and skim milk was used for this production.

During these years the farmers took their milk to the creamery who at the time would give them the best price. So at one time it would be Papakating another time it would be Augusta or Branchville.

An interesting story in Branchville was that they had to stop blowing the creamery whistle in town because it frightened the horses. The whistle had been enjoyed by the residents for its timeliness during the day.

By 1903 the milk was being bottled before shipping to the city. Milk was carted from other depots in Hainesville and Beemerville to Branchville for bottling. Branchville Creamery was bottling 9,000 quarts of milk each day. This same year Borden's bought the Fulboam Creamery.

A new plant was constructed in Branchville measuring 80 X 40 feet which was completed by July 1st, 1907. A few years later the milk was shipped in 40-quart cans instead of bottles. Pasteurilization was introduced in 1914.

The last creamery to be built in Frankford was done by Henry Becker who purchased three tracts of land at Strader's Crossing, Ross' Corner in 1921.

An important project for all the creameries was filling their ice houses in the winter in preparation for the need of cooling the milk and products during the summer months. At times 50 extra men were hired to cut ice on the various lakes and ponds and truck to the creameries.

1928 must have been a warm year because a few creameries had to take the extra measure of getting their ice from the Poconos. Fifty-nine carloads of ice arrived over the Lackawanna from Pennsylvania. By the 1940's ice was purchased from Pickett's Ice Plant in Newton and stored in an ice house.

Along with the changes in milk production and shipping throughout its earliest years there were also strikes when creameries cut the price of milk.

The creamery in Augusta then owned by Model Dairy Co. burned to the ground in 1929 and a few years later the remains of the ice house were removed. In 1935 the Pellettown Creamery closed its doors and a year later Ideal Farms moved into Franford at Ross' Corner.

Ground was broken for a new creamery in Branchville on December 12,1939 on Broad Street. Near the Lackawanna Railroad Station it replaced the one on Lower Main Street. It opened a year later on December 19, 1940 and was called the Sussex Milk and Cream Co. a subsidiary of Borden's. Carl Barker who had been with the creamery for 33 years recalled that "in the beginning years milk was all brought by horse and wagon. Thirty-five men were working and the milk was bottled there. Now it is shipped to Newark in tank cars and trucks and bottled there."

Vast changes occurred with farming in the early 50's and continued into the 60's. After World War II the farmers found it more and more difficult to obtain farm help. Other industry and businesses were able to pay their workers more than a farmer could afford. A farm worker was not offered an eight-hour day and cows had to be milked twice a day, early in the morning and late in the day. Modernization did not come cheap. The farmer was perhaps the only business that was then producing wholesale but purchasing retail. By 1957 bulk tank milk started in New Jersey. Some farmers chose not to build the tank room on their farms, determining it to be physically impossible or fiscally prohibitive.

Where Sussex County used to brag about having more cows than people, the situation gradually reversed. In 1960 cows numbered 26,500, but a few years later when farmers were notified by the creameries that they could no longer take their milk in cans, but that it could only be received by tank truck, more farmers ceased their dairy operation.

In 1962 the Branchville Creamery closed because of a boiler explosion and fire. The creamery never reopened because milk sales were falling off in the area. Other creameries followed suit and closed. Henry Becker Creamery closed its doors in 1964. Nine years later it was sold to Frankford Commercial Center.

Creameries and most dairying came to a sad end.