 | Faye Graves, a native Wichitan, attended school at Friends and Wichita State, concluding at Midwestern Theological Seminary. He has been active in media for many years with Channel 12, KIRL, KFDI, KOOO AM & FM (Omaha), KFRM & KICT 95, as an owner, manager, producer, director and announcer. He has served as President of the Haysville Board of Education. He has also served on several national boards of the Southern Baptist Convention. Faye currently serves as Executive Pastor and Director of Administration and Education at Immanuel Baptist Church, 1415 S. Topeka, Wichita. You may contact Faye by e-mail fmgraves@amenibc.org, or by phone at (316) 262-1452. |
The difference in the cart or truck was that it was cooled by ice, not refrigerated air. It contained a heavily insulated compartment and was most sanitary, but no refrigeration as we know of today. The delivery unit was totally covered all the way around to protect it from any possible germs that might come from the engine in front (the horse). The dairy products were all packaged so neatly. Milk, in all flavors, was in glass bottles.
Cottage cheese and butter were packaged in smaller containers. The milk man, as they were called, would come to the porch previously designated and place the products in a cardboard container with a lid that would protect them until the customer took them inside. There was no shopping in stores, having to carry all of your dairy products in plastic or paper bags. It was personal service.
There were several major dairies in Wichita that supplied the area. There was Steffens, DeCoursey, Meadow Gold and later...Hyde Park.
There was absolutely nothing that has ever since tasted as good to me as did the real cream that rose to the top of each quart milk bottle. Pour that on your morning Wheaties and it was just a little bit of heaven. Then came homogenized milk where the cream was mixed with the skim milk and then you had to buy the cream in separate containers. I actually grew up in an area where we had our own cow and the milk was stored in a crock. We had a lot of real cream to make excellent home made ice cream and a lot of good tasting desserts.
A man who delivered milk back in the early days told me he could actually go into an apartment or house and put the milk in the ice box. One morning, he was hungry, and there were some eggs and bacon in sight, so he got the frying pan and prepared some breakfast for himself. The lady of the house came to the kitchen door and asked what he was doing. He simply answered, "Where’s the toaster?" He didn’t say for sure what happened after that.
Well, that pretty much covers the old days of delivering milk to homes. The practice was later continued...only using gasoline trucks. I guess we’re all spoiled now in the way we get our dairy products from the giant super markets.
As kids, if we would have used the current dairy ad, "Got Milk?", with the milkman, he would have said, "Well, of course!"