The Andover Creamery Company

The Andover Creamery Company. , This intersection for many years was the site of the Andover Creamery Company, an enterprise started in 1886 by a group of 76 Andover residents. The idea was to provide local farmers with a better way to market their butter. Up until that time, butter had been made on individual farms using hand powered churns, with each farm typically making a few hundred pounds per year. But a creamery could produce hundreds of pounds a day, taking in cream from area farms, turning it into butter with steam-powered churns, and shipping it out to distant markets via the nearby railroad line. , With most stockholders buying one or two shares at $25 per share, the company raised a total of $4,500 and in 1887 started production. The creamery building was 48 feet long by 30 feet wide and had two floors. A seven-horsepower steam engine powered rotating-drum churns through a system of overhead shafts, pulleys, and belts. Two workers, a buttermaker and an assistant, operated the equipment, and the company contracted with a number of "cream gatherers" to pick up the cream from farmers and bring it to Andover Center. In addition to the price paid for the cream, farmers were also eligible to receive a share of the creamery's profits, once the Stockholders received their dividends. , In 1903, the company produced 99,485 pounds of butter. But within a few years, like similar small creameries started in other eastern Connecticut towns, the Andover Creamery began to feel the effects of falling dairy prices and competition from larger commercial milk processors in the cities. , In 1915, the creamery's directors voted to dissolve the company and sell the land and building. In subsequent years, the creamery building was enlarged by raising up the attic story. For many years, it served as a general store and gas station, and later as an apartment building. Finally, in June, 2000, the old creamery was taken down to make way for Route 6 intersection improvements. , The Andover Creamery Company had strict rules covering every aspect of dairying, from the cows' bedding and feed to the conditions under which milk and cream were to be stored. Both farmers and cream gatherers were expected to report violations that might compromise the creamery's product. After two violations, the company could refuse to accept a farm's cream again. The high quality of the Andover Creamery Company's butter received international recognition in 1893, when it was awarded a bronze medal at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. , Rules and Regulations , Patrons and Cream Gatherers , of , The Andover Creamery Co. , MILK.. Milk must not be used from unsound or diseased cows, or from any cow fresh in milk before the fourth milking from the time of calving, and not then if the cow is feverish or if the milk is above 98° when drawn. Bloody milk, and all milk affected by garget, or in any other manner rendered foul, must be rejected. MILKING.. The cows shall be milked in the most cleanly manner into tin pails only, and the milk strained through two strainers before entering the cans. Pails, cans and covers should be thoroughly washed and scalded every time used, and kept perfectly sweet. Milk must not stand unnecessarily in the pails in the stables. Stables should be so arranged and cared for that no filth can get into the milk while milking. Creamers and Cans.. All patrons must provide creamers or tanks sufficiently large to hold all their cans of milk, so that it will not be necessary to skim but once a day. Creamers must be kept in a place free from odors, and the water in them changed as often as necessary to keep it clear and odorless. The Temperature. in the tanks may range from 40° to 45° in Winter, and from 45° to 50° in Summer; but shall not be allowed to be lower than 40° in Winter, or 45° in Summer. Setting Milk.. The milk should be put into the cans and immediately submerged, and remain undisturbed until skimmed. SKIMMING.. Patrons are not allowed to draw any can of milk lower than the bottom line, and the cream on each can must be counted before it is emptied out of the can in which it was raised. COWS.. Cows must be salted at least once every week and have plenty of clean, fresh water. They must be bedded when stabled, and stables provided with suitable drops and cleaned twice a day. FEEDING.. Care must be taken that nothing be given the cows which will taint or injure the cream. The feeding of turnips, cabbage, onions and starch feed is prohibited. Gathering Cream.. Cream gatherers are instructed to drain the cans thoroughly, and are forbidden to take any cream that, in their judgment, is not suitable to be used at the factory. It shall be their duty to see that the rules for patrons are complied with in every particular, and to report all violations of the same to the Superintendent. They shall record the number of spaces of cream furnished by patrons, giving each patron credit in whole numbers; counting a half-space or more as one space, and less than half a space as nothing. The cream account of each collection shall be returned to the Secretary on the day of collection. They must protect the cans from extremes of heat and cold, and keep them clean and sweet by thoroughly washing and scalding them. They must furnish a substitute, when from any cause they are prevented from gathering, and must give thirty days notice to the Directors of their intention to leave the service of the Company. , Any patron whose cream is rejected by the cream gatherer, must give reasons satisfactory to the Board of Directors, showing that his neglect or violation of rules is excusable, before his cream can be received, and a second violation shall be judged a sufficient reason for refusing to receive his cream again. , Patrons are requested to report any negligence or failure of the observance of rules on the part of the cream gatherers. , Copies of rules are to be kept near each cream tank. , By Order of Board of Directors. , M. P. Yeomans, Secretary. J. G. Jagger, President. , Andover, Conn., April 8, 1893.. , Information and illustrations provided by the Andover Historical Society , Text written by Public Archaeology Survey Team, Inc. , ( photo captions ) , , Interior, 1889. Large wooden rotary churns can be seen in the background, while in the foreground are tables for working and rolling out the butter. , , The buttermaker and his assistant standing outside the creamery, 1889. The building's high brick basement story was exposed on the north and west sides. , , Creamery rules and regulations, April, 1893. , , The south side of the Andover Creamery Company. 1889. , , Medal won by the Andover Ceamery Company's butter at the World' Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. The medal was designed by the noted American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Shown actual size.