Fresh Milk on the Doorstep

While residents doze or grope for that first cup of coffee, trucks criss-cross the community in the early morning, dropping off milk, bread and eggs at a growing number of homes in Millburn, Maplewood, South Orange and other nearby towns.

While milk delivery sounds like a relic of another era, it’s a modern solution for many families. “We have a lot going on around the house,” explains Jane Madden of South Orange. “With two very young children, ages 1 and 3, and two working parents, we’re busy and it’s hard to drop everything to run a quick errand. The milk delivery has been a godsend.”  Madden has a standing order that arrives weekly. “Because I know we’ll have milk, bread and eggs,” she says, “I know we can have French toast for dinner if all else fails.”

Milk delivery was the norm in many communities – including this one – from roughly 1860 until 1960. Reliable refrigeration and greater access to cars meant that homemakers could buy milk more easily and store it longer. (An online history of milk delivery is here.)

Deliveries were first made by horse-drawn wagon. A well-trained horse knew the route and would walk slowly, pulling the bottled milk, while the driver walked to and from each house. There are houses in both Maplewood and South Orange that have square-shaped openings with two doors. One door allowed the milkman to place bottles in the opening from outside; the other door opened from within the house, to collect the milk.  (These openings look as if a small air-conditioner would fit into them, and are sometimes mistaken as such.)

In 2011, milk comes in trucks and is stored either in coolers or metal milk boxes. And not only milk arrives: local sources (see below) deliver eggnog, cheesecake, yogurt and freshly-baked baguettes.  

For a long time, milk delivery was the norm, and the milkman knew a lot about the habits of families on the route.

The milkman’s acumen paid off in other ways, as well. In 1938, two criminals who successfully pulled off 55 robberies were caught thanks to an alert milkman. The two brothers used stolen cars for their heists, and, reports The New York Times, drove one night with mismatched license plates. “A passing milkman noticed the discrepancy,” and notified police.

The long history of milk delivery is interesting, but current customers prize “convenience, convenience, convenience,” as Madden says. “At this point,” she says, “going back to running out to the store late at night when we’re out of milk sounds as old-fashioned as churning butter.”

For milk delivery, see below. Did we miss one? Tell us in the comments.

www.suncrestmilkman.com