Contributors: Cirena Lenz, Florian Laper Source: Brandon Times, 3/7/35, & Personal Collections

The Fairwater "Jim Town" Creamery

The creamery in Jim Town (shown above in a photo from the Brandon Times, 3/7/35), the latest of four creameries established in the village over the years, was originally constructed adjacent to the river on Main Street in 1910 by C. Tinkham, A. W. Bonesteel, W. R. Abercrombie, Fred Berg, George Stelter, and Paul Korb. Initially only cream was purchased to make butter, and Paul Korb was the butter maker. A close-up of a Jim Town postcard pictured below and postmarked in 1911 offers another view of the original building (from Winton and Cirena Lenz).

The newer building (from Florian Laper, image dated 1922) replaced the original structure in 1922 and was demolished in 1975. A story about its construction in the June 1, 1922, Markesan Herald anticipated that the building "will be one of the finest in this section of the state." The same article suggested that the original structure was constructed well before the generally acknowledged date, as early as the 1880's.