Let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit some cherished moments from our community’s history! Each week, on Thursday, we are going to “throw it back” and share a piece of our community history with you.
This week our series on Clear Lake dairies continues. Miller Dairy was the fourth of the five dairies to serve Clear Lake. With the gracious assistance of David Miller of Clear Lake whose family operated the Miller Dairy, it was possible to pull together some interesting data that ties the Miller Dairy to local Co-op Dairy operations. David’s great-grandfather, James H. Miller started the Miller Dairy in 1910 with his operation located north of Clear Lake. It is Clear Lake’s oldest dairy.
James Miller was also a part of the Clear Lake Co-op Creamery Association serving as its president for more than 10 years. As you may remember from our article about the Farmer’s Co-op Dairy, co-ops in Iowa began as early as the late 19th Century. All of the cooperatives were primarily grain-focused as the co-ops provided a way for farmers to bypass middlemen when shipping their grain thereby gaining them better prices for their goods. That concept grew to also include electricity, lumber and coal. In time, these co-ops also began cooperating with local poultry producers. These cooperatives served communities with milk through their dairies; more accurately called creameries. The Clear Lake Co-op Creamery not only provided milk, but also eggs, butter and cottage cheese.
The Clear Lake Co-op Creamery, which began operation around 1923 and was operated successfully with James Miller as its president, was providing dividends to its investors by 1935. Miller also rented his dairy operation north of Clear Lake to the creamery until the Farmer’s Co-op Dairy was established in 1946 and located on South 4th St in town. James’s son Roscoe took over operations of the Miller Dairy in 1936 after the death of his father and the passing of his brother Paul in 1938. Roscoe continued to provide milk to Clear Lake until he sold the dairy in September of 1945 to George Aldinger of Iowa Falls who already was the owner of two other dairies in Iowa. Mr. Aldinger purchased the business, but not the real estate or dairy herds. Shortly after Roscoe sold the dairy, he purchased the Knutson Hardware building from C.A. Knutson who had operated a hardware business at that location for more than 50 years. Little did Roscoe and his son John realize that they were about to move into the hardware business themselves, serving Clear Lake for decades.
The photos attached show Roscoe Miller standing near his milk truck circa 1945. It was graciously shared by great-grandson David. The phot of the milk bottle is from the Clear Lake Historical Society.
