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HOME > History > History Club > Art Geisinger - Annandale Creamery

History of Annandale Creamery
Presentation to the Annandale History Club
November 3, 2008
Art Geisinger

Art Geisinger said there were once 35 creameries or cream stations in Wright County.  The first creamery in Wright County started in Rockford in 1889.  In the 1930s and 1940s, there were over 19 cooperative creameries in Wright County.  The Annandale Co-op Creamery was the last cooperative creamery in the county to close.  The creamery building still stands at the southwest corner of Cedar and Maple (now occupied by an antique shop with an apartment above.)  The first creameries were five to seven miles apart, because farmers brought the products to the creameries in wagons pulled by horses. With autos, trucks and improved roads, the product could be hauled further and there was increased competition.  Creameries in and near Annandale were as follows:

In 1927 Art Geisinger moved with his parents from Grand Island, Nebraska, to a farm near Annandale.  Albion Creamery was within two miles of their farm.  They took cream to Albion and later the whole milk product.  Later the creamery picked milk cans up from their farm.  Churning butter became important, and the buttermilk came back to the farm. There was no use for buttermilk and it was fed to the pigs. Eventually, the farmers wanted to get more and more buttermilk, so it was divided out according to amount of milk the farmer brought to the creamery.

Co-op creameries started mostly as small private businesses and later expanded into big plants to meet the demand of the farmer for further processing of products such as bottled milk and butter churning.  Cooperatives were the only way farmers could expand the capabilities of these creameries. 

Farmers in the area had cream separators, a simple machine cranked by hand.  When it reached the proper speed, cream was forced to the top (cream is lighter than milk) to a bowl with discs in it and skim milk would come out the bottom.  The cream separator was not for home use.   Families drank whole milk at home.  (Note: See www.dairyantiques.com for more about cream separators.)  The cream was brought to the cream station three times a week.  It was kept cool in the well pit until it was brought to the creamery. At first there was no electricity or refrigeration. Cream kept real well at 60 degrees or below.  The cream was tested for percentage of butterfat and and how thick it was and the farmer was paid according to that.  As years went by, the cream was brought in every day.  The farmer got the money right away, so he could go downtown to shop.  Later the creameries had trucks and drivers that picked up the milk from the farmers every day.

Land O'Lakes in the area picked up milk directly from the farm, put it in a refrigerated tanker, and took it to a processing plant.  First District in Litchfield still does that, as well as Bongards and Kraft Foods.  There's still competition.               

The Annandale Co-op Creamery was organized in 1929.  Art Geisinger was the manager of the Annandale Coop Creamery from 1948 to 1964. He started working there in 1947. Art farmed 400 acres near Annandale.  After a bout with rheumatic fever, the doctor told him to quit farming.  He came into Annandale looking for employment, and a job at the Annandale Creamery was the only one available.  Most of the 10 employees at the creamery were from area farms.  There was high turnover.  Employees quit because of things that were wrong in the plant.  Art's first job was dumping milk brought in by the farmers.  He soon moved to churning butter and testing milk.  After a year, the manager's job opened up.  Art applied for the job.  The creamery board members asked him why he thought he was qualified for the manager's job, and Art said that he knew the people, was used to dealing with farmers, and knew the importance of public relations. Art gave it his best shot.  After interviewing three other applicants, the board gave the job to Art for a 90-day trial period, and he stayed 16 years.

After Art got the job, he learned that he had his hands full.  In 1946 the Annandale Co-op Creamery  built a locker plant next to the creamery for slaughter and cold storage (sold to Petty Brothers Meats in 1980).  The locker plant manager reported to the creamery manager.  The need for freezer space grew rapidly.  However, the equipment supplier hadn't been paid.  He told Art that he hadn't turned in a bill, because he knew that the creamery didn't have money to pay it.  He asked Art to help him out when he could. 

After awhile, the creamery didn't need as much new equipment.  Art eventually was able to pay  off the equipment for the locker plant.  Previous to 1947 the stockholders never got a penny.  Art started paying interest on their stock.  He also bought back preferred stock after stockholders passed away, so their estates could be settled.  Previously, the creamery managers were interested only in churning butter.  The other side lines of the business were run down.  Art built up the feed, seed and fertilizer business.  They could deliver right from the railroad car directly to the farmers.

The Annandale Co-op Creamery and the Fair Haven Co-op Creamery merged in 1965.  The Annandale Creamery had hundreds of patrons and thousands of dollars of product per patron.  It helped the economy of Annandale and was good for everybody.  People made their living in the dairy business.

Creamery manager is a complicated job.  Good records need to be kept.  It helps to know your farmers and how they think.  You don't test every day with every supplier.  You chart farmers' production.   If there is an expanding amount of milk, you check to see if they have more cows.

You have to pay attention for added water, which is illegal.  Sometimes you have to go out to the farm to handle the situation.  In the winter the cows are fed grain, dry hay and alfalfa.  In the spring when the cows are turned out to pasture and eat green grass, they produce more.  The butterfat test goes down, and the farmer will complain when they get the first check and it's lower, because they had less butterfat.   When cows are fed more silage, a smell comes into the milk because there is high acid.  Anything the farmer feeds the cow shows up in the product.

Some farmers were not as sanitary as others and there would be a buildup of bacteria.  Talking to the farmer could be very difficult.  If milk did not pass inspection, you'd have to shut people off from production.  Land O'Lakes was very strict.    

The milk and cream were pasteurized to eliminate bacteria and homogenized so cream and milk would stay mixed together and cream didn't come to the top.  Art told of the old milk bottles with necks.  The cream would be at the top and the customer scooped all the cream out and put it in coffee.   

Land O'Lakes butter was made at Annandale.  The buttermilk went to farmers or to Land O'Lakes in Litchfield to be processed.  Butter was made in 68 pound boxes and cut into one pound blocks.  You had to make sure the product weighed one pound, with no air bubbles.  It's then wrapped in wax paper, put in a carton, and delivered.  There's a lot of labor involved in butter making.  Cheese was made at Litchfield.  During Art's years at the Annandale Co-op Creamery, Brown's Creamery made a lot of ice cream using Annandale Creamery milk, cream and butter.

Milk products were sold in the community and around the lakes.  Annandale Creamery delivered to small towns and the surrounding community.  Individual customers had an insulated box outside by the door and the milkman put the milk in it.  In the winter, the customer needed to take it in before it froze.  Refrigerated five-gallon milk-dispenser cans were delivered to schools.  The children could help themselves to milk.  On Fridays, the creamery delivered chocolate milk.  The kids were so happy with the chocolate milk.  There was never any left.  On Mondays, the creamery would often get a call from the teacher that the children were complaining that the milk didn't taste right.  They were comparing it to the chocolate milk. The dispensers worked out well for a period of time.  Then the creamery went to paper cartons and the children had a choice of whole or lower fat milk.  Soon the creamery delivered all milk in paper cartons – no more bottles.  There were expensive changes in the plant.  With progress came problems to overcome.

People started wanting buttermilk to drink and for cooking and making pancakes.  Art had a culture to make buttermilk and needed to save some culture to start the next batch.

The NFO (National Farmers Organization) started in Iowa in 1955 because farmers thought they weren't getting enough for their milk.       

There were contests at the state, federal, Minneapolis and First District levels to see who had the best butter.  The Annandale Creamery produced AA butter for one year and kept their butter at AA the whole time Art was at the Annandale Creamery.   Art won the contest.  He got a plaque and a picture of Land O'Lakes Creamery.  Annandale Creamery produced milk products that no one had to worry about.  Land O'Lakes was very strict.

There was a demand for butter.  Some creameries changed from regular churning to whipped butter.  Howard Lake was a pioneer in whipped butter.  The demand for butter dropped somewhat when doctors warned of health problems from cholesterol.       

In the fall of 1964, Art started with Lutheran Brotherhood.  e lef He left the creamery because he wanted to have a retirement plan and he figured he still had 20 years to work toward it.  There were four Annandale Creamery managers after Art. 

Small creameries merged or closed.  Creameries disappeared because the business went to the large operator.  Large farms with hundreds or a thousand cattle took over the business.  Butter making and milk processing is now done on a large scale, quickly and economically.  Some dairies milk continuously around the clock with the milk going right from the cow to a refrigerated truck and to the processing plant. 

There was a creamery house on Excelsior Avenue around the corner from the locker plant, which was available for the creamery manger's residence.  It was sold in the 1970s.  The meat locker was sold to Petty Brothers in 1980.  The feed business ended.  The Annandale Creamery closed in 1993.  The loss of the Annandale Creamery was a loss to the whole community.  It was also the end of dairying in this area on a large scale.  There are just a few dairy farms left in the area. 

Notes by Secretary
Annandale History Club

Annandale Cooperative Creamery
Annandale Advocate Newspaper Articles

AA, May 16, 1929  – Cooperative Creamery Plans Nearly Complete (excerpts) The board reports that 97 producers' contracts have now been signed and the other three required to complete the quota will be in this week.  A representative from the Land O'Lakes machinery department is expected here this week to study over the machinery requirements.

AA, July 25, 1929  – Farmers let contract for creamery -- The Board of Directors for the new farmers cooperative creamery for Annandale have let the contract for a creamery building to be erected in Annandale this summer.  The contract was awarded to a Mr. Swanson of Dassel, a contractor who specializes in building creameries.  The building is to be 44x50, a brick and tile structure, and to be completed by October 1.

It is the intention of the board to equip the creamery with the latest machinery.  An oil burner will eliminate smoke, and all-electric power will eliminate the noise.

The board has purchased the two corner lots south of the A.C. church ( Advent Church ) from the Thomas Greer estate for the creamery site. 

AA, August 15, 1929  – (excerpts) Articles of Incorporation of the Annandale Cooperative Creamery Association of Annandale, Minnesota - The purpose of this association shall be to engage in a dairy, manufacturing and marketing business upon the co-operative plan.  The general nature of its business shall be the receiving and buying of milk, cream, and other products of the farm, and the manufacture, marketing and selling of butter, cheese, ice cream and other dairy and farm products, and the handling and sale of dairy and farm supplies.

The names and residences of the persons forming this co-operative association are as follows, to-wit: 

1. Melvin G. Wells, Annandale, Minn.

2. Robert F. Aronson, Annandale, Minn.

3. E. W. Olson, Annandale, Minn.

4. L. E. Larson, Annandale, Minn.

5. F. L. Wiegand, Annandale, Minn.

The names and places of residence of the first board of directors, who shall hold office until the first annual meeting of the stockholders and until their successors are elected and have qualified, are as follows.

1. L. E. Larsen, Annandale, Minn.

2. Melvin G. Wells, Annandale, Minn.

3. Robert F. Aronson, Annandale, Minn.

4. Orvis Nordberg, South Haven, Minn.

5. Joe Kelley, Annandale, Minn.

6. E. W. Olson, Annandale, Minn.

7. L. C. Vogh, Annandale, Minn.

AA,  March 7, 1929 (excerpts)  – A Visit to the Land O'Lakes Creamery -- On Tuesday a group of people consisting of Matt Leinonen, Chas. Logeais, Gust Mikkanen, Andrew Annala, Francis O'Loughlin, A. E. Nelson, J. P. Hoikka, Ernest Olson, Walter Lundeen, E. R. Nelson, Robert Aronson, L. C. Vogh, Joe Kelly, L. E. Larsen, B. H. Thayer, David Berg, Miss Sarah Larsen and Mrs. Tygeson, motored to the Land O'Lakes creamery plant at 2201 Kennedy St. N.E., Minneapolis.  The group of people represented directors and others interested in the creamery organizations at French Lake, West Albion and Annandale.  The purpose of the visit was to hold a joint meeting assisted by the Land O'Lakes president, John Brandt, who had wide experience in forming mergers of organizations.

Pres. Brandt explained to the group the necessity of merging in order to reduce the cost of manufacturing.  The directors of the Annandale Creamery organization have expressed a desire to meet the stockholders of the French Lake and West Albion creameries more than half way in a merger.  Pres. Brandt expressed the opinion that it would be much better for all concerned to have the three organizations unite now and maintain the outlying creameries as receiving stations, than to have the creameries close eventually, and the patron left with no creamery connection. 

AA March 21, 1929  – A joint meeting of directors of the Albion and Annandale creamery organizations was held on Monday in Annandale.  Tentative terms of consolidation were drawn up, upon which future consideration of the question will be based.  (Note:  The merger with Annandale Creamery never happened.  In 1931 West Albion and French Lake co-op creameries merged.)

AA, November 7, 1929  – (excerpts) On November 1^st  the Annandale Cooperative Creamery association dedicated their new creamery.  Quite a large crowd visited the creamery, enjoyed the free lunch at noon, and attended the dedicatory program held in the village hall during the afternoon.  Alfred Wright, buttermaker, and his assistant, George Kohls, were kept busy during the day showing visitors about the building and how the new equipment worked.  The water and sewer connection has been completed.  The well, which is 115 feet deep, with 85 feet of water, will be connected with the equipment in a short time.  This will supply plenty of cold water for cooling purposes. The distinction of being the first patron with cream went to Charlie Johnson.  A. H. Lofstrom carried away the first pound of butter.

AA, February 19, 1931  – (excerpts) Annandale Association progressing in spite of Depression -- The annual meeting was attended by some over 100 stockholders, patrons and friends.  A total of 176,728 pounds of butter were made during 1930.  H. N. Lungwitz, banker at Silver Creek, was present and made a plea for butter donations to be sent to drought sufferers.  The association voted to donate 200 pounds to the cause and this amount with the 500 pounds given by the French Lake-Albion creamery left Annandale Tuesday enroute south.

AA, February 8, 1934  – Annual meeting (excerpts) -- Present officers of the association are E. W. Olson, president; Henry Ransom, vice president; M. G. Wells, secretary-treasurer; W. J. Planer, Fred Thompson, L. E. Larsen and Joe Nelson, directors.  The Annandale creamery had total sales of $21,568.50 during 1932 and during 1933 the total sales were $22,757.97, a gain of $1,189.37.

AA, May 12, 1993  – (excerpts) Creamery votes to close -- last milk in May, office open through June -- The creamery, which opened in 1929, will close dairy operations May 31 and its offices by the end of June.  The issue was settled with little discussion and one paper ballot cast by 17 of the 27 farmers who make up the creamery shareholders.  The issue came down to a simple 14-3 vote by the membership of the Annandale Creamery Association at a public meeting May 4.

As of Tuesday June 1, the farmers will move their business to the First District Association in Litchfield, a large cooperative where local creamery members already have $625,000 in equity.  For the last two years, the First District has transported and processed the Annandale Creamery milk, after the local operation discontinued production of butter.

The end of an era: When Sharleen Dircks started keeping books for the Annandale Creamery nearly 18 years ago, milk was still being brought from farms to town in cans, where it was bottled for home delivery in a building that was never locked. We were open every day, all year with the creamery bottling milk, making butter and delivering to homes with a small fleet of six or seven trucks up until the early 1970s.  Dircks recalled customers coming into the creamery office for buttermilk that was 15 cents, if you brought your own Mason jar.  That was also when the plant produced 7,500 pounds of butter a day, and at 98 cents a pound, the staff couldn't keep enough of it in stock. 

The local creamery also sold 68-pound blocks of butter to Land O'Lakes and provided cream to Brown's Velvet Ice Cream.  That's also a time when the feed shed had a line of farmers waiting 10 to 15 minutes for service.  But that's changed.  By 1991, the Annandale Creamery began delivering its Grade B milk to the First District Association and its Grade A milk to Oak Grove, which reduced the local staff from six to two employees.  Since that time, the back room is no longer filled with the sound of noisy equipment and busy workers, and the only dairy products coming into the building now are already processed and packaged at the First District and Oak Grove.

Note:   Sharleen Dircks was the last full-time employee of the Annandale Co-op Creamery.  Sharleen said that in 2008 there is still an Annandale Co-op Creamery board of directors that meets twice a year.  Sharleen still does the bookkeeping that is necessary until all the equity is paid out, which will be soon.  She said that in some cases she is paying second and third generation descendants of former Annandale Co-op Creamery shareholders. Sharleen has the Annandale Co-op Creamery records from 1947 to the present.

There were many Annandale Co-op Creamery managers.  A complete list isn't available, but some of the managers were as follows:

• Alfred Wright -- (First Annandale Co-op Creamery buttermaker in 1929)

• Art Geisinger (16 years -1948-1964)

• Robert Nelson     

• Newman Thompson

• Ralph Rueckert (16 years)

• Darrell Lusti

• Ron Raisanen

AA June 4, 2004  – (excerpts) "A 75-year old landmark is getting a new lease on life.  Builders are adding a second story to the old Annandale Co-op Creamery building at Cedar Street and Maple Avenue.  Sisters Robin and Lynn Hanson, who own the building, plan to live there while continuing to run their antique and collectible business on the main floor.

"The yellow-brick creamery was built in 1929 and operated for more than 60 years until it closed Dec. 3, 1993, said Sharleen Dircks, a long-time employee.  She considers it an historic building.  The creamery was built with a bank vault, which was used to store such things as papers and milk tests, Dircks said, and is still intact.  The creamery, which produced butter and whole milk, was owned by nearly 500 farmers in the 1970s, but the numbers dwindled to the 20s by the time it closed, Dircks said."

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