Remember This? Old Dobbin and Model Dairy

From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:

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Remember This . . . Model Dairy

Did you know that during the early 1900s you could buy milk for 5 cents a quart?  By 1902 or 1903 there were about five dairies listed in the City Directory and there was great competition to sell milk to the townspeople. 

It was around this time that a group of citizens decided to form a company known as Pure Milk Supply in order to supply fresh healthy milk to the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie.  It was quite common at this point in history to find households that had their own milk cow tethered in their back yard within the town limits.  It is not surprising therefore that the presence of cows in backyards caused some disputes between neighbours since cows frequently wandered throughout the neighbourhood munching on flowers and vegetables!  Local farmers also supplied people with milk so while there was milk available there was no method in place to have this milk pasteurized and ensure that it was safe to consume.  

The men behind the formation of the Pure Milk Supply included: F.H. Clergue, Dr. Shannon, J.D.H. Brown, George Woolrich, John Collins among others.  Their goal was to bring in a plant to pasteurize the milk so they installed the first pasteurization machine in this part of the country.   Unfortunately they were not dairy farmers themselves and did not have experience in milk production so they ran into some financial difficulty fairly quickly.  William J. Elgie arrived from Toronto and purchased the Pure Milk Supply, changing the name of the company to Model Dairy and began supplying milk on October 31, 1905.  

The Model Dairy had its own herd of cows and created a dairy farm that would be an example for other farmers in the area.  One day William Elgie happened to spot a cow in a pasture that he liked and wanted to buy and after a few inquiries he found out that it belonged to the local Medical Officer of Health. Elgie contacted him and offered him a good price for the cow on the condition that it could pass a TB test.  The testing proved that the cow actually had TB.  The Medical Officer of Health recognized the importance of this incident and became an immediate supporter of pasteurization.  

In the early days of the dairy’s history, the milk was delivered by wagon in the summer and by sleighs in the winter.  A horse called Old Dobbin was a familiar sight for the townspeople as he made his way around the routes.  William Elgie recounted one day when he did not have any driver to deliver the milk so he proceeded to take over the deliveries himself.  Unable to find a directory showing him what stops that he would need to make he let Old Dobbin guide him on the route.  Old Dobbin knew exactly where to stop and Elgie said that he did not miss any customer that day because of his faithful horse!  The Model Dairy’s slogan was, “There will be a yellow wagon with a gray horse on your street every morning.”  

In 1919, a Sault Star article indicated that the Model Dairy planned to build an extension to their existing plant predicted to cost between $15,000 and $20,000.  This cost would include the installation of new machinery and a cold storage plant.  

Progress eventually forced the dairy to replace the wagons and sleighs with delivery trucks.  While the trucks were certainly efficient they definitely lacked the character of the milk wagon or sleigh drawn by a horse. These delivery trucks continued to provide home delivery of milk up to about the late 1960s or early 1970s.  Many people will remember putting the glass milk bottle out on the doorstep with coins in the bottom of the bottle.  Early in the morning the milkman stopped, picked up the empty bottle and left a full bottle in its place.  Unfortunately grocery stores and a changing lifestyle spelled the end of home milk delivery and people had to buy their milk at the grocery store instead.     

When William Elgie, Sr. passed away his two sons, William (Bill) and Richard (Dick) took over the management of the dairy.  Richard had studied dairy services while he attended the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph.  By 1948 the dairy employed about 30 employees in the plant with many having worked at the dairy for more than 30 years.  R.H. Elgie retired from the Model Dairy in 1951 and William died in 1954.  The business remained in the family when William, Jr took over the management of the company.  

Throughout the years the Model Dairy was known as the “home of quality" and their packaging displayed the Quality Chekd mark indicating that they met the high standards of the Quality Chekd Dairy Association.   The symbol of the Q with a checkmark through it was a familiar sight to many people.  Although the Model Dairy was eventually taken over by Beatrice Foods in the early 1980s they are a business with a long and proud history in our city.  

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