1977 June 10

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION
Scope and Content Note: Born in Milwaukee, September 25, 1906; as child worked for family dairy business. Attended Oklahoma Avenue elementary school, St. John Kanty(?) parochial school, Boys Tech, and Bayview High School. Worked for Blochowiak Dairy as employee.

BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY CLOSES
Scope and Content Note: Operated for 67 years before closing because of unfavorable trends, including reduced home delivery.

ATTENDS UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON DAIRY SCHOOL SHORT COURSE IN EARLY
Scope and Content Note: Short course emphasized most important parts of dairy business. Students not admitted without prior dairy experience. Students worked in dairy plant; received and separated milk, bottled milk, made butter, made cottage cheese. Academic work included dairy technology, chemistry, and bacteriology.

HELPFUL INSTRUCTORS AT UW-MADISON DAIRY SCHOOL
Scope and Content Note: Included professors L.C. Thomsen, Jackson, and four-year students Ken Weckel and Carl Kilzmeier.

MECHANICS COURSE IN DAIRY SCHOOL
Scope and Content Note: Included instruction in piping and refrigeration.

IMPLEMENTS SHORT COURSE LESSONS AT BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY
Scope and Content Note: Established bacteriological laboratory, chemistry laboratory to test washing solutions, butter for salt, fat, and moisture, and boiler water for minerals. Most water testing in dairy previously done by chemical suppliers.

PREPARING BACTERIOLOGICAL LABORATORY
Scope and Content Note: Used part of assembly hall which had power outlets and plumbing facilities. Acquired glassware, ovens, and incubators for cultures and sterilization. Installed autoclave to sterilize water samples; hired three part-time lab technicians.

BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY KEEPS STEP AHEAD OF MILWAUKEE HEALTH DEPARTMENT STANDARDS

BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY'S FAMOUS BUTTERMILK
Scope and Content Note: Famous for cultured buttermilk; sold almost as much buttermilk as regular milk, especially on Fridays. Delivery men had to be resupplied with buttermilk midway through routes.

BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY'S BAKER'S SPECIAL CHEESE (COTTAGE CHEESE)
Scope and Content Note: Only dairy which produced the cheese; a lengthy procedure. Developed recipes for customers; still get calls in 1977 although plant closed four years ago.

JOHN BLOCHOWIAK APPROVES CHANGES IN DAIRY, PARTICULARLY FOR PRODUCTION OF BUTTERMILK; DESCRIPTION OF MAKING BUTTERMILK
Scope and Content Note: Father amenable to changes and very excited about buttermilk production, having made it in Poland. Buttermilk previously sold to farmers for hogs because would separate in bottle. Blochowiaks developed way to make buttermilk with very small churning of butter. Made from cultured cream. Good customer demand for butter but not as great as for baker's special cheese and buttermilk.

MAKING OF BAKER'S SPECIAL CHEESE
Scope and Content Note: Explains how to make baker's special cheese.

JOHN BLOCHOWIAK WANTS SON TO ATTEND UNIVERSITY
Scope and Content Note: Disappointed son did not attend four-year university, but needed to work at dairy.

DIFFICULT TIME DURING DEPRESSION
Scope and Content Note: Ten-year depressed period. People unable to pay bills; dairy carried hundreds of people on the books. Estimates 98 percent paid bills after re-employment. City welfare department paid dairy to supply milk to poor; many people shamed by dependence on government welfare (called the poorhouse in the 1930s).

BACKGROUND OF JOHN BLOCHOWIAK
Scope and Content Note: Born in German-occupied Poland. Required to attend German schools; spoke German fluently. Rarely discussed conditions in Poland; had high regard for freedom in the United States. More information on John Blochowiak can be found in 1946 publication, We, the Milwaukee Poles.

BLOCHOWIAK FAMILY WORKS AT DAIRY
Scope and Content Note: Sister worked in office, brother helped grease trucks and fill them with gasoline. Blochowiak did mechanical work on trucks and took care of horses.

ANECDOTE ABOUT FATHER CURING HORSE
Scope and Content Note: Recalls father tying horse to climbing pegs on telephone pole and forcing wine down throat to relax him enough to function normally.

DAIRY KEEPS SPARE HORSES
Scope and Content Note: Kept extra horses in case of blisters or sores from harness and illness.

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

CHILDHOOD CHORES INCLUDE PREPARING BOTTLES FOR BOTTLING MACHINE,
Scope and Content Note: Describes the process.

CHORES WHILE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Scope and Content Note: Had regular chores while very young. Played baseball only during vacations and on Sundays. Friends loved horses and helped him with feeding and taking care of barn in evenings.

MILK ROUTES
Scope and Content Note: Routes began at midnight so milk on doorstep when customers awoke. Blochowiak as youngster was sometimes substitute driver; recalls neighborhood quietude until 4:30 a.m. when people began to get up an go to market for meat and groceries and to bakery for day's food.

BLOCHOWIAK DRIVES TRUCKS
Scope and Content Note: First worked on trucks at age 12 as helper; by age 14 drove five-ton trucks to country to pick up milk.

NO CHORES IN MORNING BEFORE SCHOOL

BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY SELLS OWN LIVESTOCK WHEN TOWN OF LAKE BECOMES PART OF CITY OF MILWAUKEE
Scope and Content Note: Town of Lake in first decade of twentieth century permitted housing of livestock; dairy had 14 head of cattle to provide milk. Milk not bottled or pasteurized; handled in bulk cans and poured directly into customers' containers. In 1911 Town of Lake annexed by City of Milwaukee, which prohibited livestock. Dairy sold cattle and solicited farmers to sell their milk. Louis Hess one of first to sell milk and arranged to haul milk of all his neighbors; later, milk hauled by trucks. Dairy rejected milk above 60 degrees F.; in 1970s milk rejected if above 34 degrees F. [Later recalled correct temperature in 1970s was 40 degrees F.]

ROUTE OF NORTH SHORE LINE TO OAKWOOD (OAK CREEK)
Scope and Content Note: Sixth and Michigan Street south through such towns as Oakwood, Racine, and Kenosha to Chicago. Oakwood now part of Oak Creek.

LOUIS HESS CONVINCES FARMERS TO SELL MILK TO BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY
Scope and Content Note: Does not recall exactly how Hess convinced farmers to sell milk to Blochowiaks.

MILK SUPPLIERS
Scope and Content Note: In addition to farmers in Oakwood and Muskego areas, Blochowiaks, in 1920-1921, acquired two creameries in Helenville area, about 50 miles west of Milwaukee. Herbert Prause(?) managed creameries and hauled milk to them. Creameries eventually shut down because fluid milk more profitable than butter.

MILK SHIPPED DAILY FROM HELENVILLE TO MILWAUKEE BY RAIL
Scope and Content Note: Blochowiak had to be at railway station by 10:10 each morning to claim milk. Shipments eventually occupied two-thirds of a baggage car.

HELENVILLE CREAMERIES CLOSE
Scope and Content Note: Butter manufacturing stopped at Helenville about 1922-1923.

ROAD BETWEEN MILWAUKEE AND MADISON
Scope and Content Note: Concrete road ended at Milwaukee county line; road passed through many small towns heading west towards Madison.

MILK COLLECTED AT HELENVILLE FOR SHIPMENT TO MILWAUKEE
Scope and Content Note: Many farmers delivered still-warm milk to Helenville where it was cooled with well water, canned, then taken to railway station.

MILWAUKEE HEALTH DEPARTMENT STANDARDS FOR MILK
Scope and Content Note: Standards the result of conferences between dealers, health officials, and farmers. Farmers who did not meet Milwaukee standards sent milk to condenseries where it was sterilized after canning.

DAIRY WORKS WITH FARMERS TO MAINTAIN HEALTH STANDARDS
Scope and Content Note: Problems not always easy to identify. Filtration of milk the greatest problem; difficult for farm wives to keep cheesecloths washed and sterilized for twice-daily milking. Most farmers very cooperative; rebellious farmers discontinued delivery to Blochowiaks.

FARM FAMILY RESPONSIBLE FOR MILK STANDARDS
Scope and Content Note: Whole family helped with milking; wives responsible for filtration because they took care of cheesecloths.

WASHING SOLUTIONS
Scope and Content Note: Did not cleanse too well. Many mistakenly used very hot water, which dissolves milk solids and forms coating of lime which grew bacteria.

INCENTIVE FOR FARMERS TO MAINTAIN HEALTH STANDARDS
Scope and Content Note: Had to follow standards to stay in Milwaukee market, which paid more than cheese, butter, or condensery markets.

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

AGREEMENTS BETWEEN BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY AND FARMERS
Scope and Content Note: Never had written contracts; either party could end arrangement at any time. High fluid milk prices the chief incentive for farmers to stay with Blochowiak Dairy.

BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY PAYS FARMERS WELL
Scope and Content Note: John Blochowiak kept milk supply at level of amount required. Con- denseries outbid by twenty cents per hundred.

CONDENSERIES
Scope and Content Note: Nearby Carnation Co. condensery at Sullivan. Condenseries began to proliferate before World War I, surpassing creameries and cheese factories as largest users of milk. As fluid milk brought better prices, condenseries began to close down.

BEGINNING OF MILWAUKEE MILK PRODUCERS' COOPERATIVE (MMPC)
Scope and Content Note: Monthly conferences held between farmers' cooperative and dealers to agree on milk prices for various uses. After its establishment, MMPC designated to represent farmers, but did not decrease haggling among farmer members.

FARMERS REMAIN LOYAL TO BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY DURING MILK STRIKES,
Scope and Content Note: Overall, Blochowiak Dairy maintained good relationship with farmers. During milk strikes, farmers rode trucks to help protect their milk; dairy provided them lunch.

BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY MEETINGS WITH FARMERS
Scope and Content Note: Occasional meetings to discuss change in trends or health department standards; most meetings with farmers called by MMPC.

SWITCH TO BULK HANDLING
Scope and Content Note: In early 1950s competing dairy offered major Blochowiak farmers in- centives to change to bulk handling of milk in North Lake/Holy Hill areas. Blochowiak met with farmers and haulers to agree on way to change gradually from cans to bulk handling.

BULK HANDLING REDUCES HAULING COSTS
Scope and Content Note: Blochowiak Dairy warned farmers to buy tanks which held at least five milkings since pickups every two days meant lower hauling costs.

OLDER FARMERS RESIST BULK HANDLING
Scope and Content Note: All farmers switched eventually, except older men near retirement, who changed to another market or discontinued service rather than invest $3,000 in bulk milk tanks.

INCENTIVES TO FARMERS TO SWITCH TO BULK HANDLING
Scope and Content Note: Blochowiak Dairy offered premium of fifteen cents per hundredweight during the first year, ten cents the second year, and five cents the third year. By then most farmers had switched and were happy with bulk handling.

PROBLEMS WITH MILK CANS
Scope and Content Note: Soldered seams opened and became contaminated; later seamless bottoms had protective tin coatings, but they wore off and cans began to rust.

ADVANTAGES OF BULK HANDLING
Scope and Content Note: Stainless steel tanks with rounded corners prevent contamination and rust.

CHANGES AT DAIRY TO ACCOMMODATE BULK HANDLING
Scope and Content Note: Disposed of equipment designed for cans. Bulk cans not trouble-free. Milk drawn out by suction; if vent not in proper position, tank on truck crushed, as happened once. Bulk handling worth cost of remodeling; milk constant 34-40 degrees F.

NEW TECHNIQUES LEARNED FOR HANDLING OF BULK MILK
Scope and Content Note: Milk haulers had to take short course at UW-Madison to learn more exacting techniques of sampling.

MORE MILK LOST WITH BULK HANDLING
Scope and Content Note: Milk loss of 1-1 1/2 percent for farmer and dairy because of milk in bottom of tank and milk foaming. Tanks, however, easier to clean than cans.

FARMERS AND HAULERS WHO FAIL TO SWITCH TO BULK HANDLING END AGREEMENT WITH BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY
Scope and Content Note: Originally had seven truckers, but only three invested $20,000 in bulk tank truck and continued to haul for Blochowiak Dairy.

WHY BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY SUBSIDIZED FARMERS' CONVERSION TO BULK HANDLING
Scope and Content Note: To fend off competition. Had to follow trend or lose business.

REDUCTION OF HOME DELIVERY CLOSES BLOCHOWIAK DAIRY
Scope and Content Note: Because of trend away from home delivery towards store pickup and because Blochowiak Dairy unable to contract with large supermarket chain, operation became inefficient, and dairy closed while still solvent.

END OF INTERVIEW SESSION