from 1898 to 1929

The Hammond Dairy

Formerly located at
Fayette Street and Oakley Avenue -
Clinton Street and the Erie Railroad

If the Hammond Dairy were still around today it would be celebrating its centennial. Founded just before the turn of this century, by two brothers Louis and Paul Klitzke. The two enterprising young businessmen started out with just one horse and one wagon. But their small milk business would not remain small for very long. The dairy started off as a one story red brick building with a second story being add to the building to house the dairy's 75 horses. In fact their modest sized Hammond milk depot would at one time be the second largest dairy in the entire state of Indiana in it's heyday, second only to a dairy in Indianapolis. The Hammond Dairy had a peak production capacity of 100,000 pounds of milk per day.

The Hammond Dairy was well known in the industry for it's state of the art equipment. The plant on Oakley Avenue was enlarged several times so that new equipment could be installed. The Hammond Dairy Company's refrigeration, pasteurization and sterilization equipment was the best of it's kind in the nation. The Hammond Dairy Company produced milk and milk products including butter, cheese, whipped cream and it's famous "Velvet Brand Ice Cream". The ice cream was made on the second floor then sent down to the freezer on the first floor, where it was put into containers. Machines to manufacture Eskimo Bars were on the first floor in the former office space of the original dairy and were wrapped in foil by hand in the old days.

In 1921 the dairy was enlarged with a new structure built on Clinton Street, just east of the Erie RR. This helped make use of a rail spur in which the raw milk shipped from Arkon IN was pumped into a receiving tank to await processing. The Company was always quick to keep pace with the city's rapid growth and to keep up with it's growing demand and customer base. Borden's Dairy purchased the company in 1929. The Borden's company made a major expansion in the late 1950's which included a new milk receiving room, testing laboratory, paper carton storage room, enlarged cooler area, enlarged bottling room, in floor conveyors and a new loading dock. Due to shifting markets the plant was phased out and later closed. One of the last remaining plant structures was razed during 1972. Ending a part of the city's industrial history.