I just barely got in on this memory. We had a Meadow Gold milkman who would come by twice a week, delivering two-quart bottles of milk with a cardboard stopper. There would be a knock at the door, followed by a call of "Meadow Gold!" Mom would have left the empty bottle on the porch, and the milkman would replace it with a fully topped-off complement.
Milkmen originally delivered their product in pint or quart bottles daily. The reason was that homeowners had iceboxes before WWII. They kept food cool, but opening the door more than a few times a day meant the coolness would be more like lukewarmness.
That leads to another memory. Did anyone else out there grow up referring to their refrigerator as an icebox, courtesy of your parents' lingo?
As the years wore on, iceboxes were replaced by refrigerators that became more and more affordable. By the 1960's iceboxes were gone. But housewives who had never known anything but milk being delivered to their doors continued to patronize local dairies that would bring milk, eggs, cottage cheese, and other products directly to the home.
I'm not sure when Meadow Gold discontinued home deliveries. I know they stopped for us about 1967, but I'm not sure if it was because of being discontinued, or because my thrifty father decided it was too much of an expense. In researching this article, I discovered that at least one dairy in Longmont, Colorado was still making home deliveries of less-than-24-hour-old-milk in returnable glass bottles as recently as 1997.
The milkman's regularity in making early morning deliveries led to such classic joke's as Rodney Dangerfield's "I'm depressed! I saw my kid and the milkman going to a father-and-son dinner!" A milkman or two might have been invited in for a cup of coffee by an amorous housewife, but in reality, I'm sure it was a rare occurrence.
Nowadays, milk comes in an ugly plastic gallon jug with a date stamped on it. You can still get food delivered to your doorstep, courtesy of the Schwann's man. But the days of leaving returnable bottles on your porch, to have them replaced by the milkman, are long gone.
I wonder If I have a cold beer in the icebox?
Comments (6)
I love this memory. We had a little metal box on our front porch where the milkman left the bottles. And we could order special stuff, like buttermilk, which my father loved. We stopped having milk delivered at some point, but I don't remember the year. A museum near me (in Lexington, Mass.) had an exhibit a couple of years ago on the age of the milkman. Very cool.
Posted by Rhea | April 4, 2007 9:42 AM
Posted on April 4, 2007 09:42
Many meaning of words have changed or have been lost as time passes. A lift was an elevator. It wasn’t that same as now. You had to call the lift with a button and you would hear the bell announcing that you wanted the use of the lift. If someone on another floor did not close the sliding door (mostly up and down sliding but some were side to side also) you would have to climb the stairs to the location, of the lift and close the door and bring it to the first floor to load your items.. They even had a lever on some earlier models with a brass handle that went from one side or another to indicate up or down. Then the car terms of Bonnet (hood) or Boot (trunk). The boot had many names as time went by and we found other uses as in the earlier “Sport” coupes when we had the luxury of a Rumble Seat or Dickey Seat. These were so cool! They were short lived as the speed of cars started to break the 30 miles per hour speed and the elements were a factor of there demise. Even the Model “A” Ford had a similar center seat known as the “Mother In Law Seat”. On the East Coast if you ordered coffee you would automatically get cream and sugar. Black coffee had to be stated as such as the cream (or milk) came automatically with the order of “Coffee Please”. The asking for a “tonic” or “pop” always produced a “Coke”. I found out when went west and ordered a “tonic” and got a very strange look from the soda jerk that the meaning there was for hair tonic and not a soda. There are some that might read this and say what a “Soda Jerk” is? The word “Gay” did not have a meaning about the gentlemen that vested the Bath Houses of San Francisco. The new meaning has some people be proud to be gay and others hiding the fact. I know have “Gay” friends but they would probably be my friends even if they were not “Gay”! To end I miss taking a short ride with the “Milk Man” and have a memory of a time past.
Posted by R. Capelle | April 4, 2007 11:12 AM
Posted on April 4, 2007 11:12
Grew up in Syracuse, NY in the '50's. In winter, if you didn't get the milk in pretty quick, it would freeze! Glass bottles, cream on the top, paper or cardboard caps. And when it froze, there would be a column of frozen cream rising up from the neck of the bottle an inch or two high with the paper cap sitting on top. Eventually it thawed and was fine. Some folks had the milkman bring it right inside, just opening the door and calling out--NOBODY locked doors. For that matter, our utility meters were in the cellar. The meter reader just barged into the back door--into the kitchen--bellowing "METER MAN" as he came. Wonder how many housewives they "caught" that way?
Posted by mike | April 6, 2007 6:50 PM
Posted on April 6, 2007 18:50
Milk Man - started with horses and the horse would REMEMBER the stops! Also, the milk box was insulated to keep cool in Summer and ice free in Winter - for a while. Our Milk Man would leave a sliver of ice in the box on the warmest days. I also KNOW what kind of truck the milk man drove. It could be steered sitting, swing away seat, or standing! CLUE: Answer is five (5) letters. Also, we had bread delivery, bleach delivery, insurance (debit) collector, dry cleaner (also our mayor!) the egg lady, diaper service and so much more. The services were needed because most families, like mine, were one (1) car families. (and party line phone!)
So send in or post an answer as to type of truck milk man drove.
Posted by Jeffrey P. Miller B.A., A.S. | April 6, 2007 11:07 PM
Posted on April 6, 2007 23:07
It took some digging, but I found the answer here.
Go see for yourself, readers! It's a great story.
Posted by Ron Enderland | April 7, 2007 9:08 AM
Posted on April 7, 2007 09:08
I woonder if all the delivery people partied together at neighborhood bars like industry night. You could include milkmen, mailmen, paper deliverers, door-to-door salesmen, etc....
I'll bet lots of beers were hoisted at those
brouhahas!
Posted by scott | July 17, 2007 2:15 AM
Posted on July 17, 2007 02:15