HOULTON, Maine — For 75 years, Houlton Farms Dairy has provided local residents with the freshest milk and dairy products a person could ask for.
Located at 25 Commonwealth Ave. since its inception, much has changed in the 75-year history of the dairy. What was once a small, operation of delivering milk to homes has expanded into a major distributor of milk products for much of Aroostook County, as well as portions of Washington and Penobscot counties.
Alice Lincoln, co-owner of the company, said a 75th anniversary celebration is in the planning stages and would likely be held during the summer months.
Established in 1938 by Alan Clark, Houlton Farms Dairy was the first pasteurizing plant north of Bangor. Clark had a dream of delivering locally produced milk to homes in the greater Houlton area. In the beginning, six local dairy farmers agreed to provide Clark with all the milk their herds could produce and thus Houlton Farms Dairy was born.
Clark hired Milton Lambert Jr. and together the two produced small batches of butter and operated the milk bottle-filling machine at their small facility. None of the equipment was automated in those days.
The early years were filled with many long days as the plant struggled to get off the ground. Seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, farmers trucked 20-quart milk cans weighing 60 pounds apiece to the dairy. Once there, they were emptied, washed and trucked back to their farms to begin the process all over again.
Processing milk began at 4:30 a.m., a practice that Eric Lincoln continues to this day. During the winter, when local farmers saw milk production dwindle, Houlton Farms Dairy purchased milk from H.P. Hood in Bangor.
In 1941, the Houlton Air Base opened, and was soon followed by an air base in Presque Isle. This created a greater demand for milk products, which required an expansion of the small facility, as well as the purchase of new equipment to keep up with that demand.
Numerous expansions occurred at the plant over the years. One of the biggest changes to the industry came in 1956 with the advent of cardboard milk containers and Houlton Farms Dairy was the first in Maine to switch from glass bottles for milk delivery.
In 1965, a new and much larger building was built on site. In fact, the new plant was built around the existing facility so that work did not have to stop during the construction period.
It was during this time period that Alice Lincoln entered the Houlton Farms Dairy family when she was hired to work two weeks a month in a bookkeeping capacity. Before long, as the company continued to grow, her workload increased until she was a full-time employee.
In April 1977, Clark sold the business to Lambert. Four years later, on April 1, 1981, Alice and Leonard Lincoln purchased the dairy business from Lambert. Alice and Leonard, along with their sons Eric and Jim have served as co-owners of the company ever since.
“Back when we bought this business, there were 17 other dairies in the state,” Alice said. “Now there are three. Portland has two and there is us. I don’t think people realize just how rare it is to have your own dairy located right in town.”
The Lincolns expanded their business in 1983, opening a dairy bar in Presque Isle. A second shop opened in 1987 in Caribou and a year later Houlton got its own dairy bar. All three sell a variety of Houlton Farms Dairy ice cream products in both hard and soft serve flavors. All three dairy bars are open on a seasonal basis, typically from April to September. A year-round dairy bar was opened inside the Aroostook Centre Mall in Presque Isle in 2005.
“Originally there were just seven flavors of hard serve— vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, coffee and the sherbets – orange, lemon and raspberry,” Alice said.
Mary Lincoln, Jim’s wife, is in charge of the daily operations of the company’s dairy bars. Today, the dairy has about 30 different flavors of hard ice cream, and 26 flavors of soft serve, with a variety of popular flavors.
“We purchase all our raw milk, free of artificial growth hormones, from local dairy producers,” said Alice. “We strive on a daily basis to provide our customers with the finest and freshest dairy products money can buy.”
Today, thanks to innovations in technology, all of the milk needed is supplied by just two farms — Lilley Farms of Smyrna and Cowperthwaite Farms in Littleton. In addition, all of the ice cream found in the dairy bars and in supermarkets is made at the processing plant on Commonwealth Avenue.
Perhaps the single most-popular product made by Houlton Farms Dairy is its butter. With its creamy texture and tasty flavor, the butter often sells out faster than it can be made. In fact, the dairy has numerous customers that order butter to be shipped as far as Florida, Illinois, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Alabama and Indiana.
Another popular, but seasonal product, is its lemonade. Only sold during the summer months, the HFD lemonade is a staple for any family barbecue or picnic. The dairy’s chocolate milk, a velvety smooth and rich drink, is another popular beverage at the family dinner table and in schools.
Houlton Farms Dairy employs 15 full-time and 50 part-time people.
“The dairy business is a tough business,” Alice said. “Houlton Farms is the smallest dairy in the state. We compete with three large dairies for the milk sales in Aroostook County, which has more competition than any other county in the state. Hopefully, with our faithful customers and our dedicated dairy farmers and employees, we will be here to supply area folks with our dairy products for many years to come.”
For more information on Houlton Farms Dairy, visit their Facebook page.
Editor’s note: History for Houlton Farms Dairy was obtained from the book “Company Secrets,” by Alice Helstrom-Anderson.
