Simon T. Budd started a direct delivery milk service from his family farm in Mifflinville, Ohio. Today, it is located in Northeast Columbus near the intersection of Cleveland Ave. and Agler Rd.
Simon Budd (born 1877) moved the business (deemed “S.T. Budd Dairy Company”) to a new plant at 1390 Wesley Ave.
Budd Dairy Company had the only sanitary refrigerated milk wagon in the country.
On December 7, 1916, the Budd Dairy Building and plant opened in the Italian Village on Fourth St. between Fourth Ave. and Detroit.
The building expanded to accommodate more garages for horse drawn wagons and vehicles.
Budd Dairy advertised a new product in the KKK-owned newspaper, The Fiery Cross. Almost immediately, Budd Dairy was boycotted by the African American community and quickly joined by Catholic and Jewish community as well. The boycott immediately caused a drop in orders of over 600 gallons of milk a day.
Seven months after the boycott had started, the Hamilton Milk Company bought the financially weakened Dairy. This boycott is thought to be one of the earliest successful racially-based economic boycotts in the history of the United States.
With the new ownership in place, customers and sales came back.
Budd Dairy Company services grew with 41 horse drawn wagons, electric wagons and gas trucks.
Hamilton Milk Company continued to innovate and expand. They added repair garages to service their delivery vehicles including spots across 4th street (now Seventh Son Brewing Co.)
Borden Dairy Company (known for their iconic cow “Elsie”) buys the Hamilton Milk Company and has an amazing 33 consecutive years processing milk in the building.
The last shipment of milk was processed in the building.