Sheffield Farms Assures Milk to City's Millions

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Sheffield Farms

A Business Innovator

By the early twentieth century Sheffield Farms was one of the largest dairy companies in the world. But its founder had begun modestly in 1841, making daily deliveries from his farm in the Bronx with a single cart and a few milk containers. The company’s first innovation was the invention of an enclosed milk wagon designed to keep dust out of the milk containers. Eventually four separate dairy concerns combined to form the Sheffield Farms Company – the number “4” was emblazoned on every bottle they sold – which continued operating into the 1950s, before eventually being incorporated into Kraft Foods.

In the first half of the 20th century, New York has the best transit system in the world.  Manufacturing, which was prospering in the city, needed infrastructure and that incredibly complex necessity is the underpinnings of the growth of industry on the edges of the city such as Manhattanville.
— Kenneth T. Jackson, Jacques Barzun Professor in History and Social Science, Columbia University

Sheffield Farms and other dairy companies built a cluster of processing and transport facilities near the 130th street rail station, where milk could be bottled and prepared for delivery throughout upper Manhattan. Sheffield Farms, Borden’s, and the United States Dairy Products Company were known as the “Big Three.” Together they controlled more than 60 percent of the city’s business. By 1916, Sheffield Farms’ share amounted to 20 percent of all milk sold in the city.

The dairy business in this period was often volatile and controversial. Women and mothers in Harlem took their concerns over high prices directly to the streets on multiple occasions, picketing Sheffield Farms and other companies to demand affordable milk for their children. Dairy workers and delivery-wagon drivers engaged in frequent and sometimes violent strikes to ensure a fair wage and revenue share. Leading a highly visible industry in a predominantly African-American neighborhood, Sheffield Farms executives understood the value of community friendship. The company hired a black foreman in the 1930s, despite the opposition of some white employees.

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Milk Wagon 2, Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library.
Milk Wagon 2, Avery Classics collection, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
Sheffield Farms Brochure 1, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Sheffield Farms Brochure 2, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Milk Capping Sign, Avery Classics collection, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Sheffield Farms Button, Avery Classics collection, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Sheffield Farms Pamphlet, The New York Academy of Medicine Library.
Sheffield Farms Milk Bar 1940, The Museum of the City of New York.
Sheffield Farms Milk Bar 1936, The Museum of the City of New York.
Colored Dairy Bar 1910, New York National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Sheffield Farms Milk Buildings, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, The New York Public Library.
Children in East Harlem 1940, Columbia University.
Harlem Mothers Storm Milk Stations 1916, Rare Book and Manuscripts Library, Columbia University.
Sheffield Farms Plant, The New York Academy of Medicine Library.
Sheffield Farms Article, Library of Congress.