Fresh milk was stored in these 8 gallon milk cans, cooled in a water vat and then set out on a milk stand waiting for the milk truck.

Photograph of Ila Peterman at the Peterman Dairy Farm.

The Peterman Dairy Farm on Simcoe Street.

This dairy farm ran for years by George and Sarah (Leopard) Peterman. George Walker Peterman was born on March 19th, 1870 to George and Charlotte of Tecumseth, and he decided to come to Bradford to clear land on Simcoe Road to build his dairy farm. With his wife Sarah Jane Leopard (born January 31st, 1869) of North York, and ten children, the Peterman Dairy farm came into being at 319 Simcoe Road. All the boys worked on the farm until they moved out to start families of their own. Out of the four girls, Vera Peterman (later Williams) was the first to drive the horse-drawn dairy wagon through town. She did it for seven of the 35 years the family farm ran. As the dairy farm died out, most of the Peterman family stayed in the Bradford area (Monty and Norma left for Detroit). George Peterman died on September 17th, 1950, and Sarah died soon after on April 15th, 1955, both in their 80s. Most of their children are buried with them in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Bradford.

A glass milk bottle from Acme Dairy Limited.

A metal and wood ice cream scoop, used to make it easier to serve ice cream.

An ad for Cousins dairy in Bradford, c. 1933. Appeared in the Bradford Witness.

"Remember when milk used to be delivered this way? Herbert Fraser used to do the rounds for the entire town of Bradford back in the 1940s and 50s until about 1956. His daughter, Mrs. Doris Church, who submitted these photos, recalls that her father would get up at 2 a.m. to feed the horse and load the wagon. The dairy in town at that time, Cousins (south of the Royal Bank, now Ingoglia's), provided all the dairy products for Bradford. In winter, before the town plowed any of the roads, the sleigh would be pressed into service, Mrs. Church said. Mrs. Carol Lund, Mrs. Church's daughter, is the little girl in the photo."

Photograph of the cows on the Peterman Dairy Farm.

Load record book for milk delivery in the 1930s.

Clearing the land to build the Peterman Dairy Farm. Pigs are in the foreground.