Balford Farms Heritage

A brief history of our company has been described on another page. It all began many years and many dairies ago. Following are the significant ancestry companies that formed our present organization. Unfortunately, time does nasty things when history goes undocumented so if you know any interesting facts, dates, etc. about these organizations, please EMail us.

Baldwin Dairies:

The original dairy which evolved from F.B. Baldwin, Philadelphia County Milk. The physical plant was operated until the early 70's when bottling was turned over to Abbott's Dairies. Subsequently, the bottling of our milk was awarded to Johanna Farms, which was bought by Labatt Breweries of Canada in 1985 which later bought then sold Lehigh Valley Dairies. Our offices and warehouse was moved to the Tacony section of Philadelphia while Johanna Farms loaded our trucks at a transfer facility in Bensalem, PA. In 1980 we bought that transfer facility from Johanna and along with two adjacent buildings created a new home for Balford Farms. In an ironic twist, we now load some routes for Lehigh (successor to Johanna) at that same facility. We found a wonderful article in the Friday, February 10, 1950, Frankford Gazette, which describes the old Baldwin operation quite well. That article follows.

Open House At Baldwin Dairies Draws Several Thousand

Several thousand people attended the "Open House" at the Baldwin Dairies last Thursday night. Despite the rain the number attending far exceeded that predicted by this local firm.

While the plant is always open for visitors, this is the first time a special invitation was extended to all to visit the plant. From it's small start in 1894 with the six quarts sold daily by the present head of the company, it has grown into one of the largest independent companies in the city.

Numerous guides were on hand to guide the visitors thru the plant which included wagon and truck garages, driver-salesmen's room, main-office, retail store, vehicle shop, paint shop, the boiler and engine room, showing soft coal burning boilers which last year used 830 tons of coal to pasteurize the milk and make hot water for the washing and sterilizing equipment, the raw milk receiving room, can washing, raw milk storage room with capacity for storing 40,000 quarts of milk, butter making, cream cheese and chocolate milk making, laboratory, the pasteurizing room, bottling washing room. In the bottling room 5400 bottles can be filled and capped each hour and in the washing room the washer holds approximately 3000 bottles, can take 120 bottles per minute and eject the same number. The inspection tour then took one thru the laundry, baker's cheese room, men's locker room, horse stables, and garage.

Some interesting and amusing Quotes captured from some of the company associates.

Another perspective of the "old" operation, is that of distribution. A story titled The Milk Run was found in an Amtrak publication. Although it is not about Baldwin's, it tells the life of a milkman. These stories, along with the Haines photos (see link below) will help to portray an almost forgotten era.

Frankford Dairies:

Located in the Frankford section of Philadelphia, not far from the Baldwin plant. This 1964 merger created the name Baldwin Frankford. The dairy plant was shut down with all production being migrated to the Baldwin Dairy plant. Ed Brophy, the President of Frankford became the Vice President of Baldwin Frankford. Long after his retirement, Ed is remembered as the longtime "hunting buddy" of Jack and Wayne Baldwin.

Willow Ridge Farms:

A true dairy farm located at the intersection of Rt 611 and Blair Mill Rd., in Willow Grove, PA, until 1964. Not wanting to get into the farming business, Baldwin Frankford utilized the facility as a transfer depot. Many will recall the Willow Ridge Dairy Bar which was not bought by Baldwin's but remained at the intersection for many years.

Buehler Dairy:

This was a tiny dairy located not far from Willow Ridge, at the corner of Rt. 611 and Fitzwatertown Rd. It also was used as a transfer depot for a short period and was purchased late in 1965.

Taylor Dairy:

A one time, real dairy located on West Avenue, in Jenkintown, PA. Taylor fit right in with Willow Ridge and Buehler as the company expanded into the Montgomery County region. Taylor also provided product to a half dozen sub-dealers, some of who are still loading out of the Bensalem facility, as of 1998.

Farmers Dairy:

In the late 60's, Baldwin Frankford bought this company, formally located around 56th. and Baltimore, in Philadelphia, PA. They were a significant distributor to the Philadelphia "Cheese Makers", such as the Mancuso's.

Bergdoll's Dairy:

A one time, real dairy located in Boothwyn, PA. We believe this may have been an operating dairy farm?

Gardenville Farms:

Gardenville originated in Doylestown, PA and had only one location. The plant was located west of Doylestown proper, toward the present day hospital. It was a company started by a wealthy Bucks County farmer who raised only Guernsey cows, and created a reputation by selling a high fat milk. He passed away sometime in the 60's and the company was being operated by a shipping company in New York which was the Gardenville founders primary business. They had no desire to operate a small-town dairy, and were receptive when George H. Baldwin, Sr., approached them about buying the company in 1969.

Almost immediately, Baldwin Frankford started bottling overflow half pints for Gardenville which established a working relationship between the two. However, the relationship was established long before because it was a matter of three brothers (George, John and Edgar) who had been operating separate dairies for many years. John was president of Baldwin Frankford, having assumed the operation after the death of his father, Edgar, Sr. At the same time, George and Edgar, Jr., were operating Gardenville. Prior to Gardenville, George and Ed had been involved with Abbott's Dairies, where George had achieved the position of Vice President of Sales. The two company's merged in 1971 contributing to the "Farms" in Balford Farms.

While we're planting the family tree, Edgar Baldwin, Sr., was the son of Frank B. Baldwin, Sr. Frank had two other sons, Reynolds D. and F. Bruce. All three boys were involved with Baldwin's over the years, however Reynolds later joined Harbison's dairy and Bruce became president of Abbotts. As already mentioned on our history page, Frank started the company as a child. Frank's father became involved when the business became a growing concern. Frank's father is the man seen on the horse and wagon picture. After the death of Frank's father, the company was distributed amongst his children and for awhile Frank's brothers, Arthur and Russell were involved. Arthur's sons, Wayne and Bowers, were also with the company as well as his son-in-law Bill. Many will remember Frank's home of those years, because it later became a well know restaurant in the Bustleton area of Philadelphia, called "The Mansion". Frank was a pioneer in the promotion and advances of dairy science. He died January 22, 1965 at the age of 87.

Balford Farms Sweetners:

Although not a true company, the Sweetners division of Balford Farms was developed in the early 1970's. Various grades of Corn Syrup and Fructose were delivered by local rail cars to our tank trailers for distribution through the 1980's.

Burschel Dairy:

Burschel Dairy Company was established at at 824 hampton Street in Scranton by a second generation German-American, Harry Burschel, in 1880. Burschel became a viable Northern PA base for MIMCO in 1972, and was managed by Burschel's president, Arthur Batten. In the 80's milk and ice cream were still being processed by Dairy Lea, for the Scranton branch. For many years ice cream and frozen novelties attributed to a portion of sales, even after the main branch ceased ice cream distribution. Eventually, it was decided that transportation and other operations being so far from the main office was undesirable. The Burschel assets were liquidated in July of 1996. You can still see a Burschel (circa 1930) milk wagon (horse drawn) on display at the museum near the Coal Mine Tour, in Scranton, PA.

Paulus Dairy:

A real dairy started 1890 in East Brunswick, NJ

Sunny Ayre Farms:

In 1734, Suzanna Weigner and her husband migrated from Germany. Although her husband perished during the overseas journey, she settled in the Worcester area of Montgomery County and started a farm. The land passed from generation to generation and by the late 1930's was operated by J. Curtis Weigner, who was the only descendent of a family of ten, interested in maintaining the farm.

Located near the corner of Rt 363 and Morris Rd, by 1940 it was officially known as "Sunny Ayre Farms", with dairy cows being a prime industry. In 1942, Curtis started a dairy on his farm. It grew to a considerable size through acquisitions such as Oakland Farms, Treat Sales (Atlantic City, NJ) and Missmer Wood Dairy (Roxborough, PA), with distribution through New Jersey, Delaware, and S/E Pennsylvania. In the 1960's, it encompassed 500 acres, and was the largest independent farm and dairy in Montgomery County. In 1973, the dairy distribution and customer base merged with Balford Farms. Most of the farm was subsequently developed for housing in the early 90's.

The proceeding information comes courtesy of Curtis "Sunny" Weigner, one of J. Curtis Weigner's sons who joined Balford Farms as Manager of Distribution, until leaving to start his own insurance trade.

Haines Dairy:

This business was founded by Laurence B. "Dick" Haines in the mid 1920's on a 67 acre farm located at Westville, NJ. In 1941, "Dick" decided to expand his operation and purchased a farm in Hurfville, NJ. The operation was known as Haines Dairy Products, Inc. His farm embraced 380 acres and supported more than 100 Guernsey and Holstein milk cows. Production reached 13,500 quarts per day. In 1955 the Haines Ice Cream Corporation was formed.

In 1956, the S.J. Evans Dairy in Hurfville, was merged with Haines, and the name was changed to Evans-Haines Dairy Products, Inc. Retail outlets and ice cream stores were opened in 1960, with "Dick's" son Bill, placed in charge. An older son, Bob, was in charge of the herd, and the youngest son, Donald "Buck", was in charge of feeding.

In 1969 the corporation bought Locust Lane Dairies and then in 1974 ceased bottling when they bought the Sealtest distribution out of Camden, NJ, and began distributing Sealtest products being produced at Sealtest's Tabor Road Plant. Sealtest gave Haines a tremendous start into the wholesale field. In 1977 supply was shifted from Sealtest to Johanna Farms, Flemington, NJ. Acquired in March 1981, the Haines acquisition made Balford a powerful force in the New Jersey marketplace. The farm was being liquidated in the 90's, most of it becoming housing.

The above is courtesy of Bill's son, Thomas Haines, who has joined Balford Farms. Tom has also provided some great pictures of his families operation. Although the pictures are dated to the 50-60's, they provide an interesting depiction of another era of the dairy industry. The pictures go well with the above 02/10/1950, Frankford Gazette article describing the old Baldwin operation.

Fount Whip Distribution:

A distribution leg of Ready Foods. Specializing in Creamers, Whipped Toppings, and other dairy related products to Restaurants. The routes were quickly supplemented as full service dairy distribution routes when Balford acquired the business in 1982.

Trymore Foods:

Trymore was founded in 1946 at 129 Pine St., in Philadelphia, as a distributor of specialty foods. Within a few years more space was needed and the company relocated to 2641 Howard St in 1959. Trymore again expanded in 1969, this time to Darnell Rd in Philadelphia, PA. Balford acquired Trymore in 1983 and used the company as a springboard for our expanding specialty products offering. Although the newly diversified product line was maintained, the Trymore distribution was sold off during 1984

Andorra Farms:

The catalyst into the soft-serve ice cream market, bringing with them major accounts such as the Spectrum, in Philadelphia.

Shearer's Ice Cream:

The Paul B. Shearer Co. was a dairy and ice cream company in Philadelphia, PA. Only the ice cream distribution was purchased from Robert Andrews in 1984. Although our company had dabbled in ice cream from time to time, this was the most significant start for the Bensalem facility. At about the same time, we built a large freezer (1982) and began storing and loading ice cream trucks for Abbotts Dairies. This was a lucrative business because the great Philadelphia institution, Abbotts Dairy, was in it's death throes, and soon to be gobbled up by Lehigh Valley Dairies, of Allentown, PA. Shortly after this, we began building bigger freezers and at peak were distributing ice cream to three grocery chains (Thriftway, Shop-N-Bag, IGA), and had more than a football field of low temperature storage. We were transporting ice cream and other frozen foods VIA the MIMCO Transportation Company, throughout the East Coast. At the same time we also warehoused and loaded ice cream trucks for Haagen-Dazs, Harbison (Southland) Dairies and several other independents.

Wicklow Frozen Desserts:

During our "frozen" years (late 1984), Joseph Clancey and Thomas Casey, the owners of Wicklow Frozen Desserts, and the regional Breyers Ice Cream distributor, moved their operation from N/E Philadelphia to Bensalem, PA. Balford Farms was chosen to host their ice cream storage, truck loading, and computerized services. Eventually Balford became full partners in the Wicklow company. In the early 90's, Joe and Tom decided to retire so the decision was made to sell off the entire ice cream distribution business being operated from Bensalem. The freezers are now leased to another major ice cream distributor.

K & A Bakery Supply:

A distribution business started by Katherine & Anthony Pantazopoulos. Their warehouse was located in the Wyncote area of PA and supplied bakery ingredients and supplies to bakeries and food chains. "Tony" joined our company's sales department in 1987. Tony's expertise had won distribution contracts with the Acme and Super Fresh grocery chains for the distribution of bakery supplies, particularly frozen "bake-off" products which became even larger concerns with the Thriftway and Shop-N-Bag chains. Tony and Katherine also own and operate the renowned Tiffany's Bakery at the Gallery Mall in Center City, Philadelphia.

DelVal Food Ingredients:

In February 1988 a partnership between Tomjack Inc and MIMCO, was formed. DelVal Food Ingredients is a brokerage company representing both foreign and domestic companies in the marketing of food ingredients.

3020 Darnell Associates:

In 1989, MIMCO acquired the partnership interest of 3020 Darnell Associates, a real estate company located in Bensalem.

Paul Andre' Specialty Foods:

Paul Andre' was founded in 1987 as a distributor of specialty foods such as caviar, smoked seafood, specialty meats, fresh pastas, oils and vinegar, cakes, and cheese. With sales annual sales of 500k, the company moved to Bensalem in September of 1988. This 1991 acquisition provided Balford an entry into the North Jersey market. Paul Andre's founder and president, Paul Klempert, joined Balford as manager of Specialty Foods.

Jericho Valley Egg Farms:

A real egg farm located in Washington's Crossing, PA. They distributed eggs and other related products. Balford purchased the distribution business in 1992. Not wanting to enter the farming business, we found ourselves eating chicken for months. (just kidding, Jerricho had already ceased farming).

Chef Aide Distribution:

The distribution entity of the M.W. Wood Company of Allentown, PA. Primarily dairy products being distributed to Wood Company managed kitchens. Due to the magnitude of distribution obtained through this acquisition, a new branch in Allentown, PA was opened in 1993.

Quality (Breuninger's) Dairy Products:

Breuninger Dairies, Quality (Breuninger's) Dairy Products, by: Frank Payne

In 1886, as a secondary job, Adolph Breuninger began selling milk from a pushcart around Kensington, Philadelphia. He ladled the non-pasteurized milk out of milkcans that were filled from tankcars on the railroad at Front & Norris Streets. He built the business up from 1 pushcart to the construction of the 7th Street and Indiana Avenue milk-processing plant. Adolph Breuninger passed away around 1931.

In approximately 1915, Adolph Breuninger's 2 sons, Edward and Henry, began working in their father's dairy. Edward Breuninger senior attended night school at Temple University. (Henry passed away in 1932) Ed senior ran the company and built Breuninger's Southampton operation. Meanwhile, Philadelphia's population grew and grew. Breuninger's Dairy grew with Philadelphia to over 100 routes, and boasted being the 2nd largest Guernsey milk distributor in the country. Ed bragged that he had the best fleet of (Divco) trucks on Philadelphia's streets.

In 1977 Edward Breuninger junior took the helm. Ed could see that the home delivery milk business was in a downward spiral. About 1976, Sealtest and Breuninger's Dairy made a special deal. Breuninger's got all of Sealtest's retail home delivery routes. They sold him the fleet of about 100, mostly Boyertown Body trucks for a very reasonable price, each truck with a full tank of gas, and good chains. The 100 or so Sealtest routes were split up between Breuninger's 7th street, and Southampton operations. When the 7th Street branch closed, those routes relocated Harbison's Dairy at Frankford & Torresdale. Finally, when Harbison's Dairy closed down, those routes were relocated to Breuninger's Southampton operation.

Ed Breuninger the 1st never took ownership of Breuninger Dairies but since he had milk in his veins, he went to work for Le-Hi Valley Dairy.

In 1985 Ed Breuninger sold his family dairy to Daniel Smith and Laurence Bowes. At that point, the dairy became known as Breuninger Quality Dairy. In October of 1996, Quality merged with Balford.

About 1976, Sealtest gave its retail home delivery routes to Ed Breuninger. They sold him the fleet of about 100, mostly Boyertown Body trucks for a rumored $6700.00, each truck with a full tank of gas, and good chains. The 100 or so Sealtest routes were split up between Ed's 7th street, and Southampton operations. When the 7th Street branch closed, those routes relocated Harbison's at Frankford & Torresdale. Finally, when Harbison's closed those routes were relocated to Breuninger's Southampton operation (Preceeding, courtesy of Frank Payne, whose father William was a Breuninger milk man and through the Sealtest association, was a friend of Russ Claypool who left Sealtest and became a Baldwin/Balford driver, years later).

The dairy passed from Adolf, to his son Ed Breuninger, then Ed, jr (Adolf's Grandson), until it became known as Breuninger Quality Dairy and operated by Daniel Smith and Laurence Bowes. A sidenote, Adolf's Great-Grandson, also named Edward, is associated with Lehigh Dairies. In October of 1996, Quality merged with Balford.

Waddington Dairy:

In May of 1952, Henry G. Waddington quit his job at H.J. Heinz, purchased a used milk truck, and started knocking on doors selling Sealtest milk. In 1954, Henry purchased what remained of the English Dairy business. In 1956, the Hiresdale Dairy was purchased which pushed annual sales into 6 figures. Not wanting to go into milk production, the processing equipment was sold, leaving a 5 route operation. Prior to 1968, Waddington was primarily a retail business, distributing to Salem and Cumberland counties, however in 1967, Jim Wards Sealtest distribution, as well as Glenside Dairy were purchased providing the company with an entry into the wholesale arena. In 1971, another Sealtest distributorship was purchased from Jerry Watson.

In 1984 Abbotts Dairies declared bankruptcy. Although Johanna Farms assummed the responsibility of maintaining the daily Abbott's operations, portions of the great Abbott legacy was distributed amongst various dairy distributors, Waddington included. In 1986 Pioneer Dairy was purchased, and in 1988 Richman Ice Cream was bought. By this time distribution was to Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, N/E Maryland, and Southern New Jersey, with sales approaching 10 million.

Subsequent to Henry Waddington's death, an agreement for Balford Farms to operate the business was entered in November 1996. The Alloway NJ facility continues to be operated as the South/Eastern distribution facility for Balford Farms. Henry's sons, James and Steven, as well as Andy Trull, the brother-in-law to Steven, are now part of the Balford team.

An interesting note: In 1928 when Henry Waddington was 6 years old, his first cousin, Elizabeth Goodwin Waddington married Edward abbott. Edward was the son of George and the grandson of the Aboott's Dairies (founded 1870's) founder, (also George). This is not as much a coincidence as it is a matter of proximity. Generations of Waddington's lived in Salem County, New Jersey which is where Abbott's began, at the end of Tide Mill Rd. Abbott's later relocated near the Salem side of Penns Neck bridge before becoming a Philadelphia institution.