Purity Dairy

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• I just purchased a stainless steel "cream can" with Purity Dairies, Windsor Ontario very clearly inscribed on the side. It is in great condition. I bought it for 35.00 from a man on Kijiji who lives on Concession 11, off CR 42 -just east of Lauzon Parkway.
  The man indicated he grew up near Elsmere and Shepherd and knew of the dairy quite well. I live on Victoria near Shepherd and also am familiar with the beautiful building that housed the dairy.
  What I found of from him that is really interesting is that back in the 40's Purity had at the site a large upside down ice ream cone for the ice cream sales. This later was moved to the west end on Sandwich, just west of Mill Street to a small dairy bar.variety store called "Georges". I grew up as a kid at Mill and Peter and fondly remember this unique structure. My dad in addition to driving for the SW &A, was also a part time refrigeration man and took care of George's refrigeration needs.
  Anyone know anymore about this large upside down silver colored ice cream cone?

• Wally (Mills) Matkowski on January 30, 2012 at 17:52 HRS.

  My family and I moved directly across the street from Purity Dairies in 1954 when I was 4 years old. At that time our milk was delivered
  to our home by a horse drawn wagon which Purity Dairies used on routes closer to the dairy. I remember well the milkman coming up
  the walk carrying the his mesh metal bottle holder with the bottles clanking all the way up to the porch. If we ran out of dairy products
  the dairy was right across Howard Ave where there was a small retail outlet. Every time I walked out my front door Purity Dairies was
  the first building to greet my eyes, you couldn't miss it. Living in Windsor in the 50's, 60's and 70's I well remember Sealtest, Bordens
  Silverwood, and Twin Pines dairy products as well as the Peerless ice cream outlets. Twin Pines had a jingle which went " You can
  worry free home delivery, Call Twin Pines Texas 41100." I have good memories living in the 1500 block of Howard Ave back in the
  1950's. I was born and raised in the greatest City in Canada, Windsor Ontario.

• Some very interesting information here! I just had to do a google search on Purity Dairies today. We have an older home and after my husband tore down part of one wall on the other side of the kitchen, I just noticed a small piece of rounded cardboard sticking out near the bottom, so I pulled it out. It's says Recipe 8 Cottage Cheese Sandwiches, and then gives different variations you can try. It gives the Dairy's information on Howard. We keep finding all these little scraps of the past in this old house.

• I remember the upside down icecream cone ,behind the postoffice on sandwich, does anybody have a pic of that to post it would be nice to see,maybe send it to the windsor star ,and the dairy as i remember as a boy was sealtest ,my dad worked there and often i missed school,to go with my dad and help load the truck ,with milk in their creates off them rollers on the dock,and going upstairs to drink fresh chocolot milk produce that day.does any one have info on a man named, Don Gervais ,a sealtest driver that mainly covered the essex town ,and cottom area ,back in the 70's and and early 8o's ,please reply.

• My father, Mac Fowler, worked for Purity Dairies from sometime in the 30s until he passed in 1958. He started delivering milk with a horse and wagon -- in fact he was our delivery man when we lived on Bruce Ave about 1940. During WWII Purity bought a former cheese factory at Sharon, a crossroads in the country outside Lambeth (near London) and converted it to produce powdered milk to ship to Europe. After the war we moved back to Windsor where my father became manager of the ice cream department. We moved into a house owned, I believe, by Sir Harry Gignac at the corner of Gladstone and Shepherd. It was easy walking distance from the dairy, where I worked the summer of 1955, before heading off to my first year at university, steam-cleaning the inside of the wagons and trucks as they returned from their routes each afternoon. It was a great summer job for a kid. Because the first wagon didn't return until about 1 p.m. I could sleep until noon, whereas my two best friends had to be at their gas station jobs at 8 a.m.! Plus, I worked fewer hours for more money and could have as much chocolate milk as I wanted to keep cool! Purity made the best chocolate milk and ice cream in town. The parents of one of my friends owned a small souvenir store with a lunch counter downtown on Ouellette Ave right near the tunnel exit. Once a week a man came over from Detroit just to have a dish of Purity ice cream at tne counter, then go back.

• Wow. I also remember this building and all the people that worked there at one time.I lived on Lillian Ave, right off of Shepard .When I was really little there were so many people that used to work there and sadly like everything else, things got slow ,we no longer had milk delivered to the house, and people were let go. I did sell a whole lot of candy bars or whatever my grade school was selling at that time to the nice people who worked there.It was right across from Petes grocery and , that was next to Wally Mills Matkowski's house( Yes Wally I remember you also, i had a little crush on you as a kid)It was a great neighbourhood to grow up in.I am glad to see that they left part on the architecture in place. This is a great site.

• I remember vividly the upside down ice cream store on Sandwich St. Inside was a small counter to sit,and two pin ball machines. I beleive the small,round man working there at the time,late 50`s, was named {George}if memory serves me and what a nice ,kind man he was. Across the street and slightly west was the {Cameo} resturaunt.

• I also remember this building but I also too remember the one that was at corner of Wynadotte and Alymer ave as i always passed by it going too school when I lived further down Alymer which is my stomping grounds even today. But you can't find old pictures on here of the place nor of the fire at the other bakery across street from Malics that also went up in flames around same time as horseshoe hotel that was when twin pines fire also happened same time period. From 1975 -1977 they were all close together.

• My great grandfather, Leo Page was business partners with Sir Harry Gignac at Purity Dairy. I have a photo album with many pictures of the dairy and the production line, the horse delivery cart. Very cool pictures and memory for our family.

• I have an old cast Iron Milk Container with Purities Dairies written on it.It is is very good condition and I am willing to sell it to the highest bidder if anyone is interested.