Written by Mikenna Richardson on behalf of the Orillia Museum of Art & History (OMAH)
Imagine opening your front door early in the morning and being greeted by a few glass bottles of fresh milk. Bringing it into the kitchen, you would grasp the cardboard flap on the recessed cardboard lid, and pull up, dislodging the lid and opening a fresh bottle of milk.
Today, it is rare to have milk delivered to your door, and the practice of cardboard milk bottle caps is entirely gone. The one pictured came from Hurl’s Dairy, a local company that started business in 1911.
Albert Hurl was born in Tay Township in 1892 and moved to Orillia in 1910. In February 1911, he began selling milk from his farm on West Street to two customers. He would arrive at their doors with a large can of milk, which he would decant into containers supplied by the customer. At that time, Hurl was charging seven cents per quart (equivalent to four cups) of milk for his service. Two years later, in 1913, he introduced glass milk bottles to his customers. These could be properly sterilized and sealed to ensure the milk was safe, even after a long morning of deliveries.
There had been some serious deliberation around North America as to determining the best way to deliver milk. Previously, milk cans were sealed with metal tops, which did not protect against contamination. It seems as Hurl’s customer base grew, he had to resort to the most popular method: glass bottles. Experiments had shown cork was the best method to seal these bottles, but commonly, they were sealed with cardboard circles such as the one above.
Hurl’s Dairy grew immensely over the years, and eventually bought out its rival, Orillia Farmers Dairy. Due to the increase in customers and the growing population of Orillia, the dairy had to adapt to changing times. In the early years, milk was delivered by horse and wagon, and then horse and sleigh during the winter months. In 1940, Jack Hurl introduced a delivery truck to the dairy, which retired the horses. In 1964, a few years after celebrating the 50th year of the dairy, the staff had grown to 25 people and there was a team of trucks that could handle all of the deliveries made every day.
Due to larger grocery stores, the growing population, and the influx of refrigerators in houses, Hurl’s Dairy closed its doors in 1967. The Orillia Museum of Art & History is privileged to have a large collection of items from the dairy, including various milk bottles and caps. They were donated by Jack and Norma Hurl in 2006 and preserve the history of Hurl’s Dairy.
Next week, we will feature another object from the OMAH collection that showcases our local history.
