The Watervliet Creamery was founded in 1901 and incorporated for $3,000. Business grew in conjunction with the population. In accordance with state regulations, a pasteurizer was installed at the Watervliet Creamery plant on Pleasant Street in 1909. At this time, the board of directors consisted of Prosper O. Bowe, Warner M. Baldwin, Robert H. Sherwood, Robert J. Ernsberger, George Morlock, Frank H. McGowan, and Hiram Pierce. Andrew Johansen was head buttermaker until his untimely death in 1911.
The creamery was one of the institutions of which Watervliet was proud and the directors demonstrated that they meant to keep pace with the demands of the growing dairy industry. In 1910, the Watervliet Creamery installed new machinery which greatly increased capacity. Workmen spent at least a week placing the machinery, which consisted of a churner, ripener, separator, and heater.
By May 1910, the Watervliet Creamery was receiving 16,000 pounds of milk a day. That August, due to a long drought, the receipts of milk at the Watervliet Creamery had shrunk to 10,000 pounds a day. However, business regained momentum the following year and a 16’x24’ cement block storehouse was erected.
Another temporary setback occurred in May 1918 when N. P. Neilsen, buttermaker at the Watervliet Creamery, slid out of town during the night after both of the separators at the plant stopped working. Whether he damaged the machinery maliciously or through blundering remained uncertain. By mid-June, the plant of the Watervliet Creamery, which had been shut down since Neilsen’s quick exit from Watervliet, re-opened for business. Will Patterson accepted the position as buttermaker. Martin Hansen, who operated the ceamery for several years, assisted Mr. Patterson in getting the plant in motion again.
The Watervliet Creamery Company bought a new Ford delivery truck in 1925. By the 1930s, Aage Larsen had taken over duties as buttermaker.
In January 1941, H. Thomas O'Hara, new manager and owner of a two-thirds interest in the Watervliet Creamery, announced a change in management of the local enterprise. Shortly thereafter, the Haxson Dairy name (sometimes spelled “Haxon”) began to be used interchangeably with the Watervliet Creamery.
The Watervliet Creamery opened a new cash and carry milk store at the corner of Main and Pleasant. The September 1941 price of pasteurized milk was 31 cents per gallon.
H. Thomas O'Hara announced in August 1944 the purchase of the Woolcott Dairy in Hartford. The purchase included all equipment which was moved to Watervliet and the town of Hartford was served from Watervliet.
A year and a half later, the Watervliet Creamery took over the milk route built up by Andrew Grahn of the North Shore Dairy. Louis Lhotka was hired as routeman in 1948.
In June 1954, Thomas L. O’Hara took over management of the Haxson Dairy founded by his father in 1941. Haxson Dairy was sold to Producers Creamery in the late 1960s. By 1969, the O’Hara family was out of the dairy business. The former Haxson Dairy building was long vacant and was under renovation in 1985, planned to be the Pleasant Street Station shopping mall. However, it was never successful. In the years since, the building was demolished and a vacant lot is now on the corner.
Original source can be found here.
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