Agriculture & Food Businesses
Dublin Core
Title
Agriculture & Food Businesses
Subject
Agribusiness
As the county seat, the city of Waukesha served as a major crossroads for food production in the region. Dozens of businesses in the city supported the growing, producing, or manufacturing of food. Most impressive is the range of food products that came from the city. From dairy cows in fields to soda bottles in refrigerators, Waukesha food products appeared in homes locally, regionally and nationally.
Agriculture in the early 20th century moved towards specialized farming practices. Large dairies became innovators in herd management, veterinary care, milking mechanization, and specialized breeding practices. In the city, farmers and agents gathered to sell stock at the Dairy Pavillion along the Fox River each year. The Dairy Association of Waukesha supported sales, fairs, and expositions.
Cornfalfa, apples, sugar beets, and other crop farms attracted new migrants into the city and surrounding communities. The Green Market, also held in the Dairy Pavillion, provided a retail space during the 1930’s for both fresh products and home-processed pickles, jams, and jellies.
New understandings in food science and preservation also drove changes. New businesses in the early century included two specializing in powdered preservatives, and another specializing in dehydrated milk products. Equipment manufactures for milking machines, refrigeration, bottle washers, and rubber parts also found the city an advantageous location.
By the 1950’s as land prices drove many farms to transform into subdivisions, and the city’s food and agriculture related businesses declined.
As the county seat, the city of Waukesha served as a major crossroads for food production in the region. Dozens of businesses in the city supported the growing, producing, or manufacturing of food. Most impressive is the range of food products that came from the city. From dairy cows in fields to soda bottles in refrigerators, Waukesha food products appeared in homes locally, regionally and nationally.
Agriculture in the early 20th century moved towards specialized farming practices. Large dairies became innovators in herd management, veterinary care, milking mechanization, and specialized breeding practices. In the city, farmers and agents gathered to sell stock at the Dairy Pavillion along the Fox River each year. The Dairy Association of Waukesha supported sales, fairs, and expositions.
Cornfalfa, apples, sugar beets, and other crop farms attracted new migrants into the city and surrounding communities. The Green Market, also held in the Dairy Pavillion, provided a retail space during the 1930’s for both fresh products and home-processed pickles, jams, and jellies.
New understandings in food science and preservation also drove changes. New businesses in the early century included two specializing in powdered preservatives, and another specializing in dehydrated milk products. Equipment manufactures for milking machines, refrigeration, bottle washers, and rubber parts also found the city an advantageous location.
By the 1950’s as land prices drove many farms to transform into subdivisions, and the city’s food and agriculture related businesses declined.
Collection Items
Rubber Ball
This red rubber ball was a promotional item for the Crown Dairy Supply Company located at 324 W. College Ave., the previous location of the Clysmic Spring bottling plant. E.B. Schurts founded Crown Dairy in 1943, later working with Frank Ruhling to…
Kramer's Chick Hatchery, feedbag
Waukesha was once home to Wisconsin’s state chick hatchery. Brothers, Frank and Herbert Kramer began raising chicks as young men, when their father served as superintendent of the Hoard’s Dairyman experimental farm in Fort Atkinson.
Relocating to…
Relocating to…
Food Storage Canister
These 25 pound tins contained HEMO plain and chocolate flavor malted milk made by the Thompson’s Malted Milk Company. Other products included Malted Food (dietary supplement for growing children), Malted Beef Peptone, Hemo Malted Milk, and Double…
Sunlite Dessert box mix display
The Sunlite Dessert Company manufactured gelatin products for institutions, hotels and hospitals. It went on to produce ice cream mixes and pectin products for making jams and jellies.
The company began in 1922 under the name Waukesha Jelly Powder…
The company began in 1922 under the name Waukesha Jelly Powder…
Jiffy Jel-Waukesha Mold
These fluted aluminum molds were promotional items for “Jiffy Jell,” the flagship products of the Waukesha Pure Food Company. The molds, which were available in various shapes, were offered, for a nominal shipping fee, in a national promotion…
Mineral Feed Sack
The Waukesha Mineral Product Company operated in the Dairy Stock Pavilion, the hub of dairy related activity, at 921 Barstow St. It produced feed for cattle, hogs, and poultry. Mineral feed, or fortified feed, was given to livestock in addition to…