Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: July 1985 Volume 23 Number 3, Page 120

Notes and Comments

Page 120

How Will We Play "Spin the Bottle"?

"Effective April 1, 1985," the Bechtel Dairies recently notified its milk route customers, which include residents of Tredyffrin and Easttown townships, "we are discontinuing the use of glass milk bottles. "Our milk is now delivered in disposable paper cartons.

We can remember, back before homogenized milk, when the familiar glass milk bottle had a specially tapered neck, into which the cream or "top of the bottle" rose. (With homogenized milk - and now no glass milk bottles - will the expression "cream rises to the top" no longer have meaning?) This "top of the bottle" was either shaken back into the milk to make it richer or taken off and used as table cream. The top inch or more could even be whipped for desserts.

On cold winter days, when the milk was left standing out in freezing weather the "top of the bottle" sometimes extended two inches or more above the bottle's opening, a protruding cylinder of frozen cream. This meant trouble, because the water and fat in the cylinder were separated forever and could never be combined again to be used as cream.

A round cardboard cap covered the mouth of the bottle. To pry this cap out a special pronged bottle top remover had been invented and could be purchased - but usually the cap was simply lifted out with a fork or the ice pick. (Ice pick?) Later, a small tab that could be lifted with a fingernail was made a part of the cardboard cap, making it easier to remove - and considerably easier to remove than the aluminum foil covering more recently used on milk bottles.

We can also remember when there were several milk routes in our area: Weaver's, Brookmead farms, Warner's. The Warner Dairy was started by Gardner L. Warner in the 1890's on Swedesford road in Strafford. His "little yellow wagon" was a familiar sight in the neighborhood, the horse often "moseying" along by itself with the wagon behind as the milkman made his deliveries from a hand-carrier. In 1918 the dairy was bought by his nephews, Claude and Maurice, who later moved the processing plant to larger quarters on the old Hester Price property on Kromer Avenue in Berwyn. They continued in business until 1955.

(etg & rmg)