Milk Dealers Association Ledger and Minute Book

It is not known precisely when the Milk Dealers Association was founded. The earliest meeting in this volume is April 15, 1891 but references are made to events as early as November 1889. The name of the Association is not entirely certain: “Milk Dealers Association: appears on page 127 in the minutes, but the name is given as “Milkman Association” on page 192. The organization disbanded on August 6, 1895.

The location of the Milk Dealers Association is identified only by the location of its meetings: Roseland neighborhood’s Kensington Avenue, which in the 1890s ran from Michigan Avenue east to Lake Calumet, between 115th and 116th Streets. Of the six secretaries who kept the minutes of the Association, three are listed in the 1893 Lakeside Business Directory of Chicago, all with Roseland addresses: T. Ibbotson, 230 111th Street; Frederick H. Niemeyer, Jr., State Street near 116th Street; and Williams J. Powers, 2551 [now circa 125] Kensington Avenue. The volume was assumed to be the account book of Jessen and Turner, milk dealers. The last secretary of the Association was George T. Turner, and it is probable that he kept the book after the Association disbanded.

It is probable that minutes began to be kept in this book when William J. Powers became secretary as Powers’ name appears on the inside of the back cover. The first ten pages of the book, which are missing could have contained unrelated material which was removed when the book was devoted to the Association’s records.