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| DELIVERING THE MILK |
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The system of retail route
delivery became an integral
thread in the social
and economic fabric in
cities and villages across
New England. Most — but |
| not all — milk delivery
people were men and boys who made a lifetime
career of it. Women and girls on small family
farms helped with delivery. In the large milk
companies, however, route delivery belonged to
men. It was said that some people set their
clocks by their milkman’s regular comings and
goings. Without a doubt they depended on the
milkman for delivery of fresh milk and cream
and, often, for news of the day. Many milkmen
had keys to their customers’ houses and placed
milk right in the kitchen refrigerators; they
pulled the old bottles to the front and put the
new in the back. The milkman had to sell
himself in order to sell his milk. A neat-looking
milkman in uniform gave the impression of
uniformity and cleanliness in his products, too. |
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| EARLY DELIVERY |
| In the tradition of the first
milkmen, horses pulled milk
wagons through the streets of
cities and towns as late as the
1940s. A horse who knew his route
would start and stop at each house
on his own while the milkman
walked to the doorsteps with the
day’s orders. Even a gasoline powered
truck could not replace a
horse’s efficiency along a densely
populated milk route. Eventually
insulated or refrigerated trucks,
heavier loads, and longer routes
made horses obsolete. |
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H. P. Hood and Sons milkman William R.
Kay, Brookline, Massachusetts, 1907
(above, left)
Courtesy of David A. Kay |
E.H. Elton Dairy, Bristol, Connecticut,
circa 1920
Courtesy of Guida Dairy, New Britain, Connecticut |
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