Memories of Kingsville Dairy

By Stephen Wuerch

KINGSVILLE — Art Allen had always dreamed of owning his own dairy, and in 1931 he had an opportunity to fulfill that dream.

Art had heard a rumour that Mr. T. Curtis was thinking of selling Grovedale Dairy, which he had operated for several years.

So the story goes that over a drink of milk and within 30 minutes, the deal was penned and Kingsville Dairy was in business.

Later that year, Mr. Allen built a cement block building at 12 Pearl Street East, where the May May Inn restaurant is today. Within a few short years, Allen expanded the business again and built a dairy bar at the front of the plant, and with that, the dairy continued to grow.

Even as a child, now 93-year-old Grace Mornan (Ringrose) recalls living a few doors down from the dairy and what a thrill it was for her brothers, sisters and herself to walk down for ice cream.

“Back then, you could get a huge ice cream cone, all for five cents,” said Grace. “Mom and Dad would give us a quarter and all us kids would walk to the Dairy Bar and order five large cones. It was great and a very big treat for all of us!”

Grace loved the Dairy Bar so much, she even worked there during the summer and after high school from 1945-1948, making $8 a week.

“This was big money back then,” she said. “And we thought we were the richest girls in town. Whether it was myself, Mrs. Allen or Hazel Wintermute, we always greeted the customer with a smile, including one famous customer — Jack Miner.”

Jack had an affinity for their famous chocolate milkshakes.

“And this was the reason you always went back,” recalls Jerry Malott, who delivered for the dairy and was also the Plant Manager for 13 years.

There were only a few times where the ladies would show a bit of a frown, and that was when somebody would take advantage of the all-you-could-drink buttermilk which was 10 cents a glass.

“You see, after the 10th or 11th glass, the girls (and rightly so) figured you were going to get sick anyway so they would start to cut patrons off,” says Jerry.

Grace and Jerry also stated that the Dairy Bar not only served fresh buttermilk, but also served fresh whipping cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, egg nog, chocolate milk, a variety of white milks and of course the famous Essex (S & X) Buttermilk.

Like the Dairy Bar, the dairy production plant in the late 1940s and early 1950s continued to grow and flourish.

Jerry recalls that the reason for much of the success of Kingsville Dairy was due to four factors:

First, the dairy plant was a modern and well-run operation that could produce thousands of gallons of milk and other dairy products each day.

Second, Art Allen signed a non-competition agreement with the Town of Kingsville which allowed the dairy to be the sole provider of dairy products to the entire town.

“All the other dairies were not allowed in town, including Lewis Dairy, which was quite a business coup,” said Jerry.

Third, in 1946, Art Allen purchased the Maple Hill Dairy from Douglas Scratch and shortly thereafter, purchased Robinson Dairy, which had only been operating for a couple years, giving Kingsville Dairy a share of the country market.

Doug Ringrose with his delivery horse, Ruth in 1949.

However, the biggest factor that Jerry recalls was all the terrific men and women that worked for the Dairy Bar, dairy plant and that had delivered milk over the years.

“They were all ambassadors for the dairy, worked very hard and did a remarkable job,” he said.

Jerry went on to say that in time, Kingsville Dairy had such a great reputation for quality dairy products that they also supplied the Lake Erie coal ships coming into the harbour.

Doug Ringrose was a milk man for Kingsville Dairy from 1947 to 1960. He told us of an accident that he had with the milk truck.

“I had to turn very hard to the right as some boys backed out onto the concession road in their car behind some greenhouses and never checked for oncoming traffic,” now 95-year-old Doug recalls. “It was a reaction of reflexes. As I swerved sharply to avoid them, the front tires of the Divco (milk truck) dug into the mud, which made it shoot off to the right while I went flying out the open door off to the left. I ended up landing off the road in a small ditch with only bruises and some cuts, while the Divco slid off the road and went across a lawn, smashing into a house.”

“It’s really kind of funny now,” says Doug, “but not at the time because somebody could have seriously been hurt. Those boys sure got in big trouble though, and I think that was the end of their driving for an exceptionally long time.”

The End of an Era In 1962, tragedy struck the dairy and Allen family as Art Allen was hit by a car and killed walking across the street. Art’s death was not only a big blow to the dairy, but also to the community he had served so long.

Art’s son Harold took over the family business, and with the help of Plant Manager Jerry Malott kept the business going for another few years.

Unfortunately, the dairy never really recovered after Art’s death and when Harold’s proposed merger to form a Dairy Co-op with Lewis Dairy, Wheatley Dairy and Lakeside Jersey Dairy was collectively turned down, Kingsville Dairy sold out to Silverwood’s in 1965.

Thanks to Jerry Malott, Grace Mornan (Ringrose), Doug Ringrose, Elco Medenblik and the many other residents of Kingsville for all their help and assistance which made this article possible. A big thank you to Trevor Stanley for connecting me with Doug.

If anybody has any other additional stories/memories to share regarding Kingsville Dairy, please email sewuerch@hotmail.com. For more information on Essex County and other Ontario dairies, visit Ontario Dairy Collectibles & History page on Facebook.