y o m i n q by Harry S. Douglass - Old Fulton History

Page 76 April 1954
(Eight)
CURRIERS CHEESE
FACTORY &
CREAMERY
(cl860 - 1930)
(Courtesy Olive
B. Burrows)
CURRIERS THROUGH THE YEARS (cont.)
At about the close of the Civil War, a two-story cheese factory
was erected across from the south end of the cemetery on the site of
the old ashery. Known as the Empire Cheese Factory, it was operated
by Sylvester Thompson and Wallace Cheney during the l870's. Lucius
Thompson may have been an earlier cheesemaker. It became the most
important single enterprise in the community and was purchased by
Pichardson, Beebe & Co., East Aurora, as a link in a chain of
plants. Cheese-making gave way to the processing of fluid milk which
vas hauled away by rail or wagons to Arcade. A large ice house was
put up just north of the main building, and each winter, a large
r.umber of men were employed in cutting and storing the ice from an
artificial pond east of the A. & A. tracks, on the present Day farm.
Patrons of the plant also erected Icehouses on their farms. As
Improved roads came, trucks began to carry away the milk, the plant
vas sold to Borden's and that firm closed and dismantled the plant
3j.n 1930. The factory operated by steam power and was lastly managed
by Merton J. Barber. As was often the case in these early cheese
factories, when the season's cheese was sold and the store rooms
cleared, a series of dances took place; the local fiddlers played
the old tunes and around midnight all enjoyed a supper, the favorite
being oyster stew.
The merchants of Curriers have been numerous, the community
usually had two general stores and there were others who carried on
mall businesses in their homes. An early shoemaker was Jacob Morse
n East Street, while in the present Cook house lived Nicholas
Donohue, often seen by his open door pegging away at his trade.
ides were usually taken to Java Village for tanning and one pair of
feather boots was expected to last a year- or longer if kept well
iled. Children went barefoot during warm weather. Local dressmakers
and tailoresses made the rounds,and these included Miss D» D.
mith and Miss Mary Andrews. In l877,the Misses Sleeper and Crossman
pened a millinery and dressmaking shop in rented rooms. Handy men
sfcquired the carpenter's trade, utilizing their skill in the neighborhood;
among those were Squire Denslow Do Davis, Charles M. jack=»
on, Benjamin F. Nicholson and James Shaw. Squire Davis, native of
urriers, a son of Thomas who came in 1822, was justice of the peace
(Continued on page 77)