814-Lancaster Farming, Saturdays July 11 1998
KAREN BUTLER
Maryland Correspondent
WESTMINSTER. Md - If
you are curious about historic
dairy collectibles from Carroll
County,- Mike Grossnickle is the
man to talk to Born and raised
on a dairy farm near here, but
no longer a dairy farmer, Mike
has channeled his love of all
things dairy into a passion for
collecting that gives new life to
the adage "If one is good, then
two are better."
With a collection of about 500
dairy-related items, the Harford
County resident is an enthusias
tic historian of the dairy indus
try. And while each charming
piece is in itself a fascinating
remembrance of the past, taken
as a whole, the collection really
documents the history of the
dairy industry m the county
from the turn of the century
through the 1970 s
Mike grew up as a farm boy
in Carroll County His father,
A T Grossnickle, had a dairy
farm at Middleburg, and then
later the family milked grade
and registered Holstems at
Three-Nickels Farm, near
Union Bridge They stopped
shipping milk in 1983 Mike now
works at the Carroll County
Farm Museum in Westminster,
and also raises produce at his
home in Harford County.
Mike also has another con
nection to the dairy industry
that has influenced his collect
ing When he was growing up,
his father, A.T. Grossnickle,
worked at Western Maryland
Dairy in Detour, and then later
at Embassy Dairy in
Washington, D.C. in the depart
ment where they tested the
milk. An uncle, A.T.'s brother,
worked at Embassy Dairy in the
bottle exchange in the early
1930'5. So m hearing the stories
the two brothers would tell,
Mike had a great resource for
information on old dairies and
on milk bottles in particular.
Probably the first thing Mike
acquired was an old can from
the Castle Cheese Company
that came from his home. He
remembers always seeing the
can when he was growing up. He
can't remember the first bottle
he got
"I used to go to a lot of farm
sales and I used to see them
around. To be honest, I can't
remember the first I 'it,"
While Mike has bid and bartered to amass most of his
collection, some of Its he literally stumbled onto. This
1930 publication, "The Island Cow", from Jersey ih the
Channel Islands, was in a box Mike tripped over while at
the recycling center. Someone had discarded the items,
and they found a new home in Mike's collection.
Dairy Collectibles Find A Home
said Mike, "it's a dangerous
hobby. Once you get started, it's
hard to stop"
Luckily for Mike his wife,
Janet, understands the "danger"
in collecting. She, too has the
heart of a collector Instead of
milk, though, her passion is tea,
and according to her husband,
she has a collection of several
hundred teapots The couple
both have displays set up at
home
For Mike, the value of his col
lection lies in it's diversity. He
started out with milk bottles
and cow creamers, and those
still make up the bulk of his col
lection. But instead of concen
trating on just one item, he soon
diversified and started acquir
ing all different kinds of ag
related things. Now in addition
to the glassware, there are flour
sacks, canning labels, all kinds
of literature, old herd classifica
tions, and banners from old
fairs Most of the things are
from Carroll County
Hearing Mike talk about his
collection is a lesson in history.
Not only can he tell the interest
ing stories of how he came to
own each item, he is also an
authority on placing them in
the context of an evolving dairy
industry in rural Carroll
County A perfect example is a
group of bottles he has from
Swissvale Farms. Swissvale
Farms, outside Westminster,
was the last processor to bottle
milk in the county, according to
Mike. They bottled until about
1976. In about 1962, Swissvale
absorbed another dairy, Tower
Farm dairy. They had milked
cows in Southern Carroll
County, and the milk was
shipped -to a dairy bar around
Route 26.
Willow Farm, with addresses
m Frizellburg and Westminster,
was probably the most prolific in
the county in terms of the num
ber of bottles they had, accord
ing to Mike. They had round bot
tles, cream-top bottles in round
and square shapes, war bond
bottles that were returnable,
baby-face bottles, and a variety
of sizes ranging from half-pint to
half-gallon. They had the only
cream-top bottles in the county,
and also later had paper car
tons. Mike has a Willow Farm
cream-top bottle with a cream
top spoon from the late 1930'5.
The curved spoon nestles just
Mike with some of his collectibles. One of the older items in his collection is the
serving platter crafted by the Buffalo, New York artist R.K. Beck. The gilt-edged platter
decorated with Holstein, Jersey, and Guernsey cows dated from the turn of this
century.
over the narrow neck of the milk
part of the bottles If you wanted
cream, you left the spoon in
place and poured it off the top. If
you didn't, you removed the
spoon and shook the bottle.
While Mike has bid and
bartered to amass most of his
collection, some of it he literally
stumbled onto. While he was at
the landfill one day sr eral
years ago, taking in paper for
recycling, he tripped over a card
board box. Kicking the heavy
box out of his way, he noticed
papers spilling out of it. "I
looked down and I said, 'Hey,
that's an old sale catalog!' So I
started picking up all these cat
alogs," Mike related, "Anyway, I
More than 100 Cal Ripken billboards can be seen throughout the Mid-Atlantic mark
et. The Baltimore Orioles player Is the celebrity spokesperson for the new “Milk—lt's
A Natural” campaign. Iron Man Cal, a lifetime milk drinker, shows people that you are
what you drink. Additional “got milk?" blilboaids. bulletins, televisional* radio Spots
will compliment the milk campaign.
found five or six boxes. I said
'Can I have these?" and the guy
said 'Anyone can take stuff out
of here, it's just recycled' so I
found five or six boxes from the
'3os, '4os and 'sos."
In this case, one man's trash
was another man's treasure.
Those five or six boxes had
belonged to a family that had
bred Jersey cows. In one to the
boxes Mike found a St. Louis
Exposition book for Jerseys from
1906. In another box was a copy
of "The Island Cow", a publica
tion from Jersey, Channel
Islands, where Jersey cows come
from, dated April 1930. The
magazine, at 33 pages, had
advertisements for bulls, and
< *s<**/ '
7 *" 1 * *’ *< 4
1
■V,’
depicted the ideal type Jerse\
cow.
While his dairy collectibles
bring Mike a great deal of plea
sure, the prices some of the
things go for now have reined in
his collecting somewhat. He
says he cannot justify paying the
price some of the items are
bringing at sales these days. "If
I'd started about 10 years ago,
I'd have oodles of bottles. But I
wouldn't even buy them when
they cost $3." he explained.
He says the collectibles are
worth whatever someone will
pay for them. But for him, their
true value is in the pleasure of
having the objects and learning
about their history.
Berks Society 6
Berks County Farm Women
Group #6 held its June meeting
in the home of Linda Youse.
Nine members enjoyed a skit
performed by Berks County
Dairy Princess Alicia Gross.
Hie county project, “Acts of
Kindness” was discussed.
Monetary donations were
given to the Memorial Fund for
member Sallie Hauseman and
the mother of member Marian
Gehis.
The July meeting and group
picnic will be at the home of
Mary Jane Hetrick.