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 A Brief History of the Black River Cheese Company To truly understand the history of the Black River Cheese Company, you must first know something of scenic Prince Edward County, a place rich in marine and agricultural history. It is hard to separate our area's history from the history of the numerous cheese factories that once were here. Now only the Black River Cheese Factory remains. Our area was settled by the United Empire Loyalists (UELs) in 1784, most of them having left the United States at gunpoint. After the war of Independence, they were viewed as traitors, and nicknamed Tories. The UELs cleared their land, built log cabins and developed communities. Our area was called Marysburgh after the daughter of King George III, the British monarch of the time.
Barley DaysIt took many years for a dairy industry to develop. The industry developed most rapidly following a 50-year period (1850-1900) of tremendous prosperity that history has named the "Barley Days", when malting barley was grown and shipped in locally made schooners to breweries across Lake Ontario and sold at a premium price as it was highly regarded by the American brewers. This all ended in 1900 when the Americans created a free trade barrier called the McKinley Tariff.The Dairy IndustryFarmers were looking for another source of income and an existing dairy industry expanded very quickly when new markets for cheddar cheese were found in Great Britain. Because of our proximity to the shipping ports in Lake Ontario, the 90 pound round cheeses of that period could be loaded locally and shipped to Montreal for overseas export.Black River Cheese - Early Years Black River Cheese Company was formed in 1901 by South Marysburgh farmers and commenced processing in June of that year. Ninety shares of $20 each were sold and sales were quite brisk as it was a new investment opportunity. The plant was built, equipped and a home for the cheesemaker was built for $1800, a sizeable amount for those times.
From the first, five directors were chosen from the shareholders, a president elected from that group, a secretary treasurer hired, and a constitution written. In the early years the company appointed a cheese sales person who would attend a cheese auction in our local town of Picton, where our cheeses and other factory's cheeses were tendered for auction. Cheese buyers would assemble and our sales person would mingle with them and lobby for sales. He was empowered to bid at the auction to ensure our cheese would sell at the price we wanted, so he became our broker, and also acted for other factories as his expertise improved. When the factory prospered, so did the local farmers. The local auction was centralized in Belleville in the 1940's and a Dutch clock method was used to sell the cheese. In the beginning, the factory hired several neighbours who would agree to pick up and deliver the milk daily to the factory by horse and wagon in galvanized milk cans. Since no form of refrigeration existed the perishable milk was delivered 7 days a week, and kept cool in wells in the summer. Most farms were within a 3-mile radius of the factory because of poor roads and perishability of the milk. It was an early morning job to get the cows to the barn, milk them by hand, and have the milk in the milk cans by 7 am to be picked up by the milk man. Our factory was seasonally operated, usually opening in April when pasture for the cows became available, through till the end of October, usually the end of the outdoor pasture season. In the early years the secretary-treasurer controlled all the funds until the end of the season; all bills were paid and the farmers got the rest. The factory would remain closed over the winter until the following year. Cheese, butter and cheesecloth for filtering the milk was supplied to the milk producers as an advance payment. Recent Years The success of our company from the beginning has always depended on good quality milk and the expertise of our cheesemaker as it still does. Marketing has always been and continues to be increasingly important to us, and a factory outlet was developed for retail and wholesale sales. Sales and delivery routes were established over the years.
Our 100th anniversary was celebrated in June of 2001 with a customer appreciation day and celebration ceremony. A highlight of the day was the unveiling of a plaque mounted on a huge granite rock, commemorating the establishment of the factory in 1901. This was unveiled by four local descendants of the original directors. In 2001 we proudly incorporated our centennial seal on our packaging. The Present Ironically, on October 9, 2001 our factory and all our stored and aged product was completely destroyed by an early morning fire, fortunately with no human injury.
An outpouring of support from customers and cheese connoisseurs, encouraged us to rebuild. Our ancestors who started with only a vision did not quit when things got rough and we have followed in their tradition. An effort has been made to maintain our heritage image in the construction of the new plant.
Despite the setback, these are exciting times for Black River Cheese Company and we value and appreciate your continued support.
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© 2004 Black River Cheese |
913 County Road 13, RR#2, Milford, ON K0K 2P0 [Tel] 613-476-2575 [Fax] 613-476-1760 |
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