Farm Fresh–delivered to your door!

n the days when Kent was young, and for many years thereafter, milk was delivered in bulk to the homes of the village and ladled out from big cans into pots, or tins, or any other receptacles which the housewives had handy. James Woodard, Kent's first milkman, blew a bugle when he left his farm northwest of town to let his customers know that he was coming. If they were not ready when he came around they got no milk that day.  

As the 19th century ended, farmers were delivering their milk to trains that took it to city dairy companies for processing and distribution. Early in the present century, operators of motor trucks began to pick up milk at the farmer's gate and the milk trains were discontinued.

The 1920s saw the beginning of regulating  the production and processing of milk.To protect the consumer's health, milk to be shipped was required to be cooled outside the stable.  Inspection of  barns for light and cleanliness, and insistence on concrete floors followed. Cows had to be tuberculin tested. Milk was delivered to Kent homes in bottles which had been carefully sterilized and every precaution possible is taken to make sure that the milk itself is pure and cleam.

Two companies serving Kent were the Fenn Dairy Co. and the Perfection Dairy Co. After the milk was properly cooled, it was picked up by fast motor trucks and carried to the dairy where it was tested for sediment and butter-fat, and given a blue-menthol test to determine its purity. The milk then passed through a strainer and into large vats or pasteurizers where it was heated to a temperature of 145 and held for 30  minutes. The milk was then cooled and bottled by machinery in sterilized bottles and kept in refrigerated rooms until loaded for morning delivery to surrounding neighborhoods in a three county radius.

In 1952 plant operations were discontinued at Fenn Dairy and a distributorship was established with the Sealtest Ohio Division of the National Dairy Products Corp. Home Delivery of Sealtest milk continued for residents through the 1950s. The property was purchased by Record Publishing and has until recently served as home for The Record Courier’s Kent offices.