The Street Cheese Market

The Street Cheese Market. "Little Falls is the Greatest Place for Cheese". "The farmers bring in that article of consumption every Monday and so great is the rush that the police of the place are on duty all the time to preserve order and keep the streets free from obstruction. The cheese is shipped from here to New York and thence by vessels to the European markets. The people in the suburbs are wealthy and live in fine residences and in a luxurious manner, all from cheese." Poughkeepsie Journal, c. 1866, America's #1 Cheese Market, The first cheese market in the United States was established in 1861 at Little falls. From April through December, local farmers, cheese factory representatives, and brokers for major American and English markets gathered at Ann and Albany street to sample cheeses and negotiate prices., From 1864-1870, Little Falls was the largest interior cheese market in the world. It remained a center for cheese production well into the twentieth century., America's first Dairy Board of Trade was established here in 1871. Essentially a producer organization, the board coordinated the sales and distribution of dairy products nationwide. It was soon emulated by other associations., A Record Day for Cheese, Once a farmer of factory sold the week's production, their wooden boxes of cheese were shipped out to the purchasing company. On a single day in 1866 over 380,000 pounds of Herkimer County cheese were delivered to the railroad depot. Double rows of cheese laden wagons lined the street for a quarter-mile in each direction. In the course of of the average season, from twenty-five to thirty million pounds of cheese were sold here in Little Falls.