history’s stories
Farmers Creamery By Ralph “Tuffy” Hicks
It seems like yesterday when we would get out of bed and run to the front door to see what the "Milk Man" had left in the early morning. Most of the time it was two or three bottles of cold milk. That was our lives growing up in the 1940's and 50's. I remember those days well since I was a Washington Post paper carrier and I had to be extra careful on milk day not to break the milk bottles left out for the "Milk Man" to return for reuse. The customer would put out their empty bottles to be picked up for refilling, as they would break easily if hit by a thrown newspaper. I was always careful with the exception of one day when I broke three that belonged to an FBI agent in the neighborhood. He reminded me of that into my grown years when he was working to get me elected to City Council.The memories came back years later as a member of Council when we were trying to find a use for the vacant buildings in the 1980's. In 1914 a group of farmers from several local dairies established a company called FARMERS CREAMERY on Wolfe Street. The company would become one of the largest local employers and milk plants in Virginia, delivering products throughout the area. I recall the trucks were using "dry ice" to keep the products cool and my relatives Lewis English and Paul Green along with Dallas Foster would give us kids the ice to play with at the end of their day. In the 1919 they began the home delivery and up to seventy-five miles from Fredericksburg. The company was producing well over ten million bottles per year by the late 1960's. E.G. Mason of Hollybrook Dairy (todays Spotsylvania mall location) was one of the main sources for the milk supply. Mr. Mason had his own bottling operation. In the 1920's the company produced Farmers Creamery ice cream that many of us can still remember. Company management changed several times in the late 1960's and the plant slowed production due to loss of several of the supply dairy farms being sold for development and the influx of supermarkets. The plant closed and remained vacant for several years, along with several other nearby buildings that were garment companies. Today, instead of just one large business at the location of the former creamery there are many. I can recall that City Planning Director Jervis Hairston had a vision for the use of the vacant property with many different types of businesses in the location. Wegner Metal Arts I recall was one of the first to establish a location on Wolfe Street and used much of the original structure to their advantage in their unique business. Stewart Wegner and his brother Steve cast the 1986 Religious Freedom Medal as commemoration of two-hundred years of the Religious Freedom Statute being drafted in Fredericksburg. There are many different companies in the buildings today. It is still difficult to believe that many homes did not have refrigerators or electric less than 100 years ago.
HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY MR. BILL SALE In Memory of: Chuck Bowie, David Holsinger, Don Craig, Franklin Powell, Pat Skinner, Mary Wolf, Fay Leh Staub, & Kevin Cox.
Tuffy is the Front Porch resident FXBG historian
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August 2020
Front porch fredericksburg
What’s in a Church? St. George’s Episcopal Church By jon gerlach At the corner of Princess Anne and George Streets, St George's Episcopal Church is a treasured gem of Romanesque Revival architecture. An enduring landmark of the rich history of Fredericksburg, it's gone through three iterations. The original wood structure was built in the 1730s. The family of George Washington attended services there. William Paul, brother of John Paul Jones, was a vestryman, along with George's brother, Charles Washington, and their brother-in-law, Fielding Lewis. Now gone, it was replaced by a brick building in 1815 at a cost of $11,000, which itself was replaced by today's magnificent church in 1849, built by Robert Cary Long and H.R. Reynold of Baltimore. The floorplan, with its nave and columns that create a court-like space on three sides with a gallery in the rear, harkens back to Roman designs of the 4th Century. Other examples of similar postNicene secular basilica have populated the Mediterranean region and Europe for sixteen centuries. of In the 1862 Battle Fredericksburg the church somehow escaped serious damage, unlike other buildings in town. However, parts of the communion set were looted during the Union occupation, and the final piece was returned in the 1930s thanks to dedicated public outreach. More recently, the 1754 Bible was restored, and a multi-million dollar fundraising drive preserved the church building. With generous grants from the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region, exterior elements of the magnificent Tiffanysigned stained glass windows were repaired and protected. This year marks St. George's 300th Anniversary! In 1720 the Virginia House of Burgesses established St. George's Parish. That was eight years before the City of Fredericksburg was founded. The 300th Anniversary is a yearlong celebration stretching into 2021 with many interesting events planned. Check www.StGeorgesEpiscopal.net out for details.
St. George's also has a rich history of community service. According to its website: "During the Colonial Period, the Church was responsible by law for the welfare of orphans, widows, the sick and the needy in the community. From 1795 to 1802, the Church established male and female charity schools. Before the Civil War, it operated Sunday Schools for enslaved children. During the same war, it was used as a hospital and for revival meetings. Today, St. George's continues its commitment to the community by helping to create and support such organizations as the Fredericksburg Senior Citizens, Rappahannock Big Brothers/Sisters, the Interfaith Council, Hospice, the Homeless Shelter, and Hope House." The Table at St. George's, a vibrant grant-funded outreach program, fosters better nutrition for food-insecure members of our community, continuing St. George's long tradition of providing for those in need.. So, what's in a Church? Here, 300 years of Fredericksburg history and community service.
An attorney and retired archaeologist, Jon Gerlach serves on the Architectural Review Board in Fredericksburg. Photo by Frances Benjamin Johnston, c. 1927-1929, courtesy Library of Congress
