Building demos ignite one resident’s memories
Submitted by Doris Stewart
Seeing another bit of our Uxbridge history being demolished these past few weeks, I began reminiscing about the old Uxbridge Dairy and why it was special to me.
I actually began tracing the history of a few of the former owners and found out that my family's former neighbour, Jack Ward, and his wife, Myrtle, were the owners of Ward's Dairy in March, 1941.
In 1945, my parents, Charlie and Phyllis Brandon, purchased a home at 258 Brock Street West and became great neighbours to the Wards. My father sold his milk route in Pine Orchard and purchased the Uxbridge Shell station from Robert Yule. The Shell station has also been demolished in the last few years, and both businesses were important to Uxbridge and surrounding residents for a long time.
Uxbridge Dairy drivers, 1958
Records show that in 1942, it was called Croxall Dairy and that W.C. Ward, C. Croxall and E. Merrick were milk distributers. On Aug. 26, 1943, Jack Ward and Charles Clarke bought the Croxall milk business which was known as Uxbridge Dairy. On Feb. 21, 1946, Charles Clarke left the business and in April, J. C. Ward sold the dairy to R. Anderson and Ralph Adams. In November, 1947, Robert Elford took over Uxbridge Dairy with Mr. Anderson.
On Aug. 5, 1948, George Climpson purchased the dairy; that’s when I met his daughter, my good friend, Diane Climpson. Diane and I were great pals, and I have many fond memories of our fun times spent together at Uxbridge Public School, our homes and various town events.
I remember so fondly the milkman delivering fresh milk in glass bottles, to each classroom every morning about 11:30 a.m. It cost us 10 cents, and we would have chocolate or white milk to have with our lunch each day. Our teacher always took our choice of milk the day before so the dairy knew how many bottles were needed for each classroom.
One of my favourite memories is of when the milkman delivered fresh milk to our door every day and in the winter time, if we didn't get out to the door quick enough, the milk would freeze and the cream would rise to the top of the glass bottle, pushing the tiny cardboard cap above the top of the bottle. As kids, we would sneak a sip of the cream for a treat. We had a milkman deliver milk to our home until 1963.
James Duncan purchased the Dairy in 1951, and in 1954 he moved the milk bar from Main Street North to Brock Street and called it "Uxbridge Dairy Bar.” The Dairy Bar was a popular hang out for teens as they served up great butterscotch and chocolate sundaes, as well as giant banana splits!
By 1958, Uxbridge Dairy had four trucks and four local gentlemen were drivers. Earl Yake, Tim Brethour, Lloyd Graham and Jim Duncan delivered milk all over town as well as to several rural areas. The old barn that was once behind the dairy was used to store ice blocks harvested from Elgin Pond.
In April, 1963, Jim Duncan sold to H. G. Mitchell, and in 1972, Harold and Doris Mitchell sold Uxbridge Dairy to Borden Co. Ltd.
It’s been a walk down memory lane for me while checking out some of the owners of Uxbridge Dairy, as well as remembering how many friends and colleagues used to meet at Uxbridge Dairy Bar for a very special treat on a hot summer day!