ALTON - On December 22, 1924, a Walnut Grove Dairy ad in the Alton Evening Telegraph informed readers that individual servings of Santa-Claus ice cream and Turkey ice cream were available for sale at their 809 Broadway store. This wasn’t just a one-time offering, either. There are ads for both of these flavors in December 1925 (also Corn and Husk or Horn of Plenty), and 1926 (also Candlestick), but nowhere does it actually describe the flavors of Santa-Claus, Turkey, Corn and Husk, Horn of Plenty, or Candlestick. A 1927 Thanksgiving ad even mentions the flavor Football. They were apparently not popular enough to be sold in brick form like their standard vanilla, hazelnut and vanilla, cranberry ice, or rainbow, but local citizens clearly looked forward to these specialty flavors.
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The ice cream must have been excellent because it even influenced local politics. In 1928, an Alton Evening Telegraph article mentioned that the East End Improvement Association elected Emil Schrimpf as its president after Edward Joehl, who was also nominated but did not want the position, offered every member voting against him a gallon of ice cream. “Schrimpf was reluctant to stand for the office, but he didn’t have anything to offer, unless it was empty bottles, and who wants empty bottles?” (Schrimpf worked as an office manager at the Illinois Glass Company.)
By the 1920s, Walnut Grove Dairy had been a mainstay in the community for over sixty years. Walnut Grove Dairy began in 1857 on a farm called Walnut Grove near Fosterburg. Casper and Josephine Joehl came to America from Switzerland and took up the dairy business they had known well in their native country. The Joehls got into the American dairy business at the right time. Until the mid-1850s, the dairy industry in America revolved around the family-owned dairy cow, with few sales of milk or other dairy products outside the family.
The industry began to change dramatically at the end of the 1800s and the early 1900s, mainly thanks to French chemist and biologist Louis Pasteur, considered one of the fathers of microbiology, who helped prove that germs caused infectious diseases and food-borne illnesses. Pasteur’s research demonstrated that harmful microbes in milk and wine caused sickness, and he invented a process ? now called pasteurization ? whereby the liquids were rapidly heated and cooled to kill most of the organisms. In 1895, commercial pasteurizing machines for milk were introduced in the United States.
The Joehl family started off selling milk door-to-door but, over time, bought out other small local dairies. In 1908, Casper and Josephine’s son, Meinard Joehl, purchased a retail milk business from A.A. Penning in Upper Alton. He established a dairy at 809 East 2nd Street (now Broadway) in Alton and soon began producing ice cream as well.
In 1914, Meinard and his sons Edward, Fred, and Albert moved Walnut Grove Dairy into a new building right next door at 811 East Broadway. J.J. Wuellner & Son built the plant, the interior of which was lined throughout with white tile and white enameled woodwork. It cost $20,000 and had all the latest equipment to provide pasteurized milk in glass bottles. Customers were invited and encouraged to visit the plant for a tour. Walnut Grove started out delivering with a wagon and horses, but later had a fleet of ten milk trucks. Eventually, there were retail branches in East Alton and Wood River and on Washington Avenue in Upper Alton, State Street, and Central Avenue in Alton.
Walnut Grove Dairy sold its wholesale ice cream division to Shearburn Ice Cream in 1955. The entire Walnut Grove Dairy company was sold to Prairie Farms Dairy in 1960, and previous owner Ralph Joehl stayed with the dairy under the new owners. The East Broadway dairy buildings were demolished in November 1965.
Sources
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "pasteurization." Encyclopedia Britannica, November 22, 2024.https://www.britannica.com/technology/pasteurization
“Candidate Won, or Perhaps Lost, by Cream Offer.” Alton Telegraph (Alton, IL), December 5, 1928.
“Dairy Business Sold Out.” Alton Telegraph (Alton, IL), March 8, 1908.
“Helping to Make Alton Summer Resort.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), July 29, 1913.
“Specials for Christmas. Alton Telegraph (Alton, IL), December 23, 1926.
“Specials for Thanksgiving. Alton Telegraph (Alton, IL), November 21, 1927.
“Xmas Specials.” Alton Telegraph (Alton, IL), December 24, 1925.
“Xmas Specials.” Alton Telegraph (Alton, IL), December 22, 1924.
Ullmann, A.. "Louis Pasteur." Encyclopedia Britannica, December 7, 2024.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Pasteur
“Walnut Grove Ice Cream Outlets Sold.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), December 6, 1955.
“Will Occupy New Home Feb. 20.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), January 20, 1914.
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