BY Barb williams, EASTSIDE HERITAGE CENTER VOLUNTEER

Less than 100 years ago NE 8th Street in Bellevue was a dusty dirt cow path bordered by bracken ferns and meadow grasses where children lead the family cow home for milking. Presently (2022) the former cow path is a hard-surfaced road bustling with activity and lined with high-rise buildings.

L80.057.001 - Children and cow on path, Bellevue 1928

In the early days, many families had a cow, or several, and children were accustomed to seeing the cream rise to the top of the milk sitting in pans on the pantry shelf. Making butter from the cream was a way women could earn money. Today, many children think dairy milk comes in containers from the grocery store. Thanks to the City of Bellevue, the historic Twin Valley Dairy Farm at Kelsey Creek Farm Park remains a farm where the public can learn about dairy farming and its importance to life on the Eastside. Through hands-on activities and seeing the farm animals, they experience a touch of farm life. The farm began in 1921 when W.H. Duey cleared the land, built a barn and started a dairy. Home-churned butter and milk were delivered to various destinations in a truck driven by Mrs. Duey. The family operated the dairy until 1942.

In a 1913 promotional labeled, “Bellevue on Lake Washington”, a sentence read, “This district is particularly adapted to dairying, the climate, soil and other conditions being ideal for this industry.” And so it was! Dairies sprang up around the region including the successful research Carnation dairy, Highland Dairy Farm, Phantom Lake Dairy, Benhurst Dairy, Twin Valley Dairy Farm, Marymoor Farm and many others. In June of 1929, The Northwest Dairyman and Farmer publication claimed that Bellevue was home to one of the most efficiently run dairies in King County. That dairy was the Benhurst Dairy run by Ben Silliman. His herd of high grade pure bred Holsteins took first place that January for producing 1111.8 pounds of milk and 37.6 pounds of butterfat. The queen of the herd was Pearle Pietertje producing 2,495 pounds of milk and 77.3 pounds of butterfat between January and June. Not only were the cows of high quality, but also the equipment. Good hand milkers were often difficult to find which slowed the production. Ben Silliman had transitioned to effective milking machines which added to his success.

98.018.016 - Ida Swanson milking Hanson's cow

John and Bertha Siepmann moved from Indiana where he had worked in the coal mines. In 1904, they purchased 60 acres in the Highland area near the corner of 148th Avenue NE and NE 24th. They built a house and began to farm. Later their son, George, started the Highland Dairy Farm. Once a week they travelled by horse and wagon to sell butter and eggs in Seattle. Their daughter, Christina, married Chris Nelson who owned and started the Phantom Lake Dairy Farm in 1922. The Dairy was located at 159th SE and SE 16th and operated for over 25 years. Several people drove for the dairy delivering milk. William Ottinger was one of them. He was employed for thirty-six years as a driver for several dairies. His first job was in 1918 when he drove a horse and wagon for Downey’s Highland Dairy on Clyde Hill. At times his route covered twenty-two miles. During his employment, horses and wagons were replaced by trucks, metal gallon milk cans by glass bottles and the bottles by paper milk containers. Mrs. Ottinger remembers as a girl it was her job to clean the milk/cream separator parts; a complex machine. She said, “I didn’t mind washing dishes, but the separator was the bane of my life.”

Pat Sandbo remembers, “Our cow was named Dolly, a nice Jersey who provided us with more rich milk than we could use. My mother used to skim off the thick cream and we would put it on the strawberries for breakfast. We didn’t know about cholesterol then. Dolly used to get out of her pasture, but my father always knew where to find her. She headed for the school yard and we used to joke about our educated cow.” Pat grew up in Bellevue where she later taught elementary school. Perhaps her cow, along with others from local dairies, provided rich cream for the whipped cream that topped the scrumptious strawberry shortcakes; the centerpiece for the first Bellevue Strawberry Festival (1925). Japanese farmers provided the strawberries. Women from the Women’s Club baked the shortcakes. And to top it off, in the 1940s Mina McDowell Schafer was making her delectable Chocolate Truffles with heavy cream, lots of butter and tested by Diana Schafer Ford, later to become Miss Washington! We owe much to the dairy farmers and their cows.

Resources:

Lucile McDonald’s Eastside Notebook, c1993, Marymoor Museum

Culinary History of a Pacific Northwest Town by Suzanne Knauss, c2007 Suzanne Knauss

Images of America, Bellevue Post World War II Years, c2014 Eastside Heritage Center, Arcadia Publishing

Bellevue Its First 100 Years by Lucile McDonald, c2000, The Bellevue Historical Society

Eastside Heritage Center archives