Story from early 20th century western NY

[quirky3]

My local dairy in Niagara Falls NY opened in 1908 with horse-drawn wagons. Here is a story a resident recently posted:

My grandfather was a veterinarian in Niagara Falls from 1913 when he graduated from Cornell until he died in 1963. I remember stories he told me about the times before motorized vehicles, when horses did most of the work, like horse-drawn milk delivery. The horse would pull the wagon slowly down the street where they had deliveries and pick up of the empties from the insulated box on everyone's porch. The delivery guy would run from wagon to house, back and through the wagon, handling the empties and deliveries, run to another house on the other side of the street, etc, never touching the reins because the horse knew what to do. Seems that one delivery route went down Ontario Ave where we lived and around the streets nearby. Getting there from Wendt's in La Salle was a bit of a trek, and one very early morning the driver fell asleep on his way to where the route began. But the horse knew the way, and the route as well. When they reached Ontario, the horse slowed down as usual and walked slowly down the street, around the corner to North, and so on along the entire route- while the driver slept peacefully on the seat in the wagon. He woke up just as the horse pulled the wagon back into Wendt's yard on Buffalo Ave, full of milk and with no empties. I think he got fired.

[DangeloInspections]

Being from Batavia, I remember Wendt's well.....!

[quirky3]

Hi! I have been to Batavia many times! The dairy nearest to me was Millville's, and Wendt's wasn't too far away. Our house was built in 1925 and had a small door next to the side door for delivering milk bottles.

[chalpm]

Hi Quirky3....moved here from Angola...thanks for the walk down memory lane...great story!

[Buffalo Jim]

The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation -------- was it created by the owners / heirs of the Wendt Dairy ? This is still one of the largest and most active Foundations in WNY .

[quirky3]

I did a little bit of research but couldn't tell if Margaret L. Wendt was related to the Wendt Dairy people. Here is a little excerpt with photo about her from Western NY Heritage magazine:

Western New York Heritage Magazine (http://wnyheritagepress.org/magazine/spring02/spring2002a.htm)

Margaret L. Wendt, whose namesake charitable foundation has ignited a new era of philanthropic outreach in Western New York, would be surprised indeed a the fame she now has attained. Her father would be astounded.

Forbidden to attend college and discouraged from following the footsteps of a "progressive" cousin in the early year of the last century, Miss Wendt lived a quiet life that tempered the privilege of her class and station with a personal commitment to charity - a commitment that evolved, eventually, into a multi-million-dollar fund that was among the first in this area to seek out projects with great potential impacts on the well-being of the entire community, rather than simply respond to pleas for assistance.
To read more of Mike Vogel's story, see page 9 of the Spring 2002 Heritage Magazine. Western New York Heritage Press, Incl (http://wnyheritagepress.org/subscription/index.htm)

[Cathy H]

nice stories about successful business people "giving back" to their community; this is very common across the U.S. I wonder when our local billionaire will get generous.

[rubicon]

My family was 70 miles east and somewhat south of Buffalo and we got our milk from local farmers who delivered their product to Golden Gurnsey processing plant for pasteurization The top of the bottle was pure cream...too rich for me

[graciegirl]

nice stories about successful business people "giving back" to their community; this is very common across the U.S. I wonder when our local billionaire will get generous.


That has been discussed on this forum.




https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/has-developer-made-significant-charitable-contributions-72772/

[2BNTV]

My uncle Joe was a milkman for Sealtest, and delivered milk to Theresa Brewer in New Rochelle. He said she was a nice lady!

I vividly remmeber the old fashioned milk bottles, with the cream at the top of the bottle. You had to shake the bottle before using. Crate held twelve bottles and seemed to weigh a ton.

I also remember he invited his friends over the house, to have a couple of beers, and watch the Yankees play in the World Series. I was playing with a toy truck on his floor, and remember seeing Joe D. sauntering under a fly ball. First thing I ever saw, on the old 6" Philco televisions.

Boy, have television's come a long way!!!! :smiley:

Back to Wednt's!!!!

[Buffalo Jim]

Back in WNY [ Buffalo/ Niagara ] there was a chain of convenience stores called " Wendt`s Dairy Stores ". Back in the late 1980`s or early 1990`s they were all sold .
I believe that they were purchased by Top`s Supermarket which rebranded them as something other than Wendt or Tops .
When I was active in WNY Charities and Arts organizations the Board of Directors of the " Margaret Wendt Foundation " consisted of 3 people . Two were decedents of the Wendt family obviously not direct decedents of Margaret Wendt as she never married as I understood it .
The Chair of the Board was and currently is a lawyer by the name of Bob Kressee who explained to me that he was a " grand-nephew " of Ms. Wendt .
The Foundation donates about two to three million a year to local worthy causes in Western NY. Often they create " Challenge Grants " which require matching donations from the general public .
I always was impressed with the level of effort and thought that the 3 Trustees put into their stewardship .