Name/Title
The first commercial butter manufactured in Campbell Hall 1923Entry/Object ID
002097Tags
R W Woodhull, Nathaniel Woodhull, George Gouge, Campbell HallSubject
DAIRYMEN'S LEAGUE
CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, INC.,
OPERATING
FARMER OWNED MILK PLANTS
PLEASE ADDRESS REPLY TO POINT
FROM WHICH THIS LETTER IS WRITTEN
Campbell Hall, N. Y. June 15, 1923
The Western College for Women,
Oxford, Ohio
Mesdames,
The first commercial butter manafactured in the United States
was made at Campbell Hall, a small village in Orange County, N. Y.,
about sixty miles north of New York City and the most of this
butter was sold in New York City. It was first made by George Gouge
in 1856.
The creamery was started by R. W. Woodhull in 1848 with
Gouge working as cheese-maker. In 1860 Woodhull's son Nathaniel
D. formed a partnership with Gouge and bought out the father's
business. Young Woodhull taking charge of the city distributing
end of the business, where he became known as the "Milk King"
of New York City, and was also president of the Milk Dealers
Union; while Gouge remained in the country supervising the
care and manafacture of the milk products. This creamery was
situated in the heart of one of the finest dairy regions of the
state and while I cannot find any statistics that would show
the exact magnitude of the business, the fact that this creamery
was supplied by dairies within a radius of eight to ten miles,
and that the joint profits of the partners for the last year of
the civil war were $ 100,000 would give some idea of the magnitude of the business. In 1870 Gouge bought out WoodHull's interest in the business
