From days gone by: Newton's last milkmen

There probably are many Newtonians who remember opening their front door in the early morning and retrieving bottled milk and other dairy products from the box on their porch. How handy was that?

These milkmen, such as Bob Schmidt, Norman Stauffer and D.A. Raber, had things in common as milk delivery men. We recently met at The Breadbasket and had coffee while they reminisced about their milkman days. I called Keith Jolliffe, who had a cold, later in the day to get similar info from him.

The Dec. 24, 1999, issue of the Kansan contained an article by Bob titled “When milkmen made house calls.” Later, I’ll borrow some tales from it, since they bear repeating.

Now, about the milkmen.

D.A. sold Steffans products. He picked up his supplies in Wichita and made deliveries to Sedgwick, Hesston and Newton. Later, he only serviced Hesston and Newton.

D.A. had his routes from 1961 to 1967. Keith delivered Meadow Gold products from 1956 to 1963. In 1958, he began delivery to Newton, Walton and Peabody. A large Meadow Gold truck brought Keith’s products to him from Wichita. It’s likely they also went on to supply other route men around the area.

Keith had a large set of customers’ house keys. He could let himself in if no one was home and take the customer’s order directly to their refrigerator. Keith said he had 360 customers.

The other men may have had keys also, but I got the impression many doors were not locked back then, or at least unlocked on delivery days.

Bob delivered milk from 1960 to 1972. His route was all of Newton north of the Santa Fe tracks. Norman worked from 1962 to 1966. His route was all of Newton south of the Santa Fe tracks.

For all the men, their day started before first light and usually ended by mid-afternoon. Early morning deliveries usually were put in the porch box and announced with a knock on the door. After the hour when people were usually awake and dressed, they might access the house and announce “milkman” in a loud voice before proceeding to the kitchen to put the order in the refrigerator.

Before refrigerated trucks were available, they used ice to keep their products cold. Bob and Norm used bags of crushed ice and placed them on top of each stack of crates. Keith said his truck was equipped with racks that held large blocks of ice.

Besides the usual kinds of milk, some also provided chocolate milk, cottage cheese, butter and eggs. After refrigerated trucks were available, they also carried ice cream products.

Keith had a company-owned truck. D.A. had one, also. Norman and Bob had to buy their own trucks, as well as “buy” their route.

The value of the route was calculated by the number of “milk units” that were sold, not dollars. A quart of milk or a pound of butter was one milk unit; even a dozen eggs was a milk unit (they must have had some unusual hens — ha!).

Units were graduated up and down from there. If the route man built up his sales where he sold more “milk units,” he could turn a profit when he decided to retire or leave and sold it to another person.

Bob said the Cream-O-Gold owner, Bill Hershberger, helped both he and Norman get a loan at the bank so they could “buy” their trucks and routes.

Route men did their own billing and collecting. The easiest was when customers left cash in their empty bottles with their next order.

Some others required reminders or personal calls.

I supposed all the dairies had porch boxes for their customers. One tidbit I picked up was that Cream-O-Gold boxes were yellow (like butter?). Bob told me he would be extremely grateful if someone could tell him where to find one; he needs it to finish out his collection.

All the men were in agreement their customers were generous at Christmastime.

They received an abundance of baked goods, cookies and peppernuts. Cash also was given.

A few nice stories make a good finale for this month’s column.

Have you ever heard of anyone having a “standing order” for cottage cheese for their dog?

Bob had one.

Each delivery day, he delivered a large cottage cheese for the customer’s dog. Bob not only delivered it but took off the top and placed it in front of the expectant dog.

Keith recounted customers’ kids followed (chased) his truck quite often, as he kept some bubble gum to hand out from time to time. He also kept track of the birthdays of customers’ children and delivered a free half-gallon of ice cream on that day.

Bob mentioned in his article one of his favorite stops was the Paulson home.

They were good milk customers, but they also had a regular invitation for him to stop about 7:30 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and join them at the breakfast table for coffee.