Name/Title
Johnson Dairy Farm 10 Gallon Milk CanEntry/Object ID
chs-014986Description
An old, 10-gallon metal milk can with lid and handles and a weathered appearance. With initials "CFJ" painted on the can's shoulder between the handles. Borden is embossed on the lid.Use
Before bulk tanker trucks picked up raw milk from farms, milk was transported daily to local creameries for processing, typically in 10 gallon metal milk cans such as this one. Most farms marked or otherwise identified their cans to ensure that the creamery returned their cans to them after emptying the contents and steam-cleaning (sterilizing) them.Context
"This milk can was last used in 1953. At that time we installed a 400 gallon bulk tank. Now we have a 3,000 gallon tank."
Charles F. Johnson 2014-05-03Collection
Johnson Family CollectionAcquisition
Notes
5/3/2014 Gift from Charles F. “Sandy” Johnson.Dimensions
Height
36 cmWidth
36 cmDepth
65 cmGeneral Notes
Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Johnson Dairy Farm
In 1887 my great-grandfather, Charles F. Johnson, purchased at foreclosure the farm at 131 Johnson Road. David Roe, the previous owner, had constructed the house and barn and had gotten too deeply in debt. He didn't live too long after losing the farm. His son, after a few years, came back and paid his father's creditors.
My grandfather, William S. Johnson, married Amy Bull Thew in 1887 and lived and farmed at 131 Johnson Road. Their milk was sold to Lawrence's Creamery in Chester to be made into Philadelphia brand cream cheese. My father, Charles F. Johnson, was born in 1892 and went to school in Craigville. In 1921 he married Anna Board of Blooming Grove and at that time purchased the farm at 112 Johnson Road. In 1918 Lawrence's Creamery closed and they improved the barn to qualify for Grade A rating and the milk went to Borden's in Washingtonville, on the site where the school buses are parked now. The work horses left the farm in the 1940s.
I was born in 1929 and went to Chester school and in 1950 married Margaret Fowler. At that time we were milking about 50 cows. By 1980 my sons Gary and Peter were on the farm so a new barn was constructed for 250 cows. In 1981 we purchased the farm at 190 Greycourt Road for crops to feed the cows.
In 2011 the herd was reduced to 190 cows to escape DEC regulations. The limit has now been increased to 300 cows, but it is too late for us. We are the last dairy farm in the town of Chester. This milk can was last used in 1953. At that time we installed a 400 gallon bulk tank. Now we have a 3000 gallon tank.
Charles F. Johnson 2014-05-03Create Date
January 14, 2025Update Date
January 26, 2026
