V.B. Angel
1937(?)—19??
V.B. Angel is mentioned as one of the milk dealers in Charleston in 1937 (“Grade Is High”, 1937).
Baird Hardware Co.
1908(?)—19??
Blossom Dairy Co.
1931—1961
Capitol Dairies, Inc.
1926—1932
Capitol Dairy came to be in 1926, according to the West Virginia Secretary of State. However, the Kanawha Farmers’ Dairy also changed its name to Capital Dairy in 1931 (WV Sec. of State, 2025). I am unsure if this was a merger, but it seems likely. The dairy went out of business a year after this.
Charleston Dairy Co.
1916—1925(?)
Charleston Dairy Co. was chartered on July 13, 1916 with a capital of $2,000 (“Corporate Charters”, 1916). The incorporators included J.H. McCulloch, C.E. McCulloch, J.B. Couch, L.F. Adkins, and Minnie Edmunds. An ad placed them at the corner of Summers and Dryden Streets at least in 1925 (Charleston Dairy Co., 1925).
Charleston Dairy Co. quart.
Charleston Dairy Co. pint.
Cline Ice Cream Co.
1918—1938
The Cline Ice Cream Co. first appears in newspapers on September 11, 1918 in an article detailing the injury of one of their workers (“Kohne Painfully Hurt”, 1918) and the West Virginia Secretary of State’s records confirm this beginning year (WV Sec. of State, 2025). The same article places their plant at Lovell and Rand Streets, by the Elk River where the interstate now is. The company was originally founded in Athens, Ohio, then beginning a plant in Charleston at a later time.
Crescent Dairy
1929—1934
The West Virginia Secretary of State records (2025) indicate that this business existed from 1921 to 1934. This is corroborated by a notice of dissolution placed in the newspaper by its president, E.R. McCandless (“Legal Notice,” 1934).
Crescent Dairy half-pint. Front.
Crescent Dairy half-pint. Back. Crescent moon on shoulder.
R.W. Childers
19??—19??
Ebb Childress
19??—1936(?)
I cannot locate any information regarding Elbert (Ebb) Childress’ time in business, but an article from 1936 states that he had passed away (“Legal notice”, 1936).
Kanawha Dairy Farm, L.E. Smith
1925—1940
Kanawha Farm Dairy, with proprietor L.E. Smith, first appears in the newspapers accessible to me in 1925 with an advertisement for his grade A raw milk (Kanawha Farm Dairy, 1925). The company later incorporated by 1930 (WV Sec. State, 2025). Despite the bottle saying Charleston, the farm and business itself was located in Pocatilico (“State House”, 1930; WV Sec. State, 2025). The same cited article reports that the dairy incorporated that day as well. I cannot find an address for the company with my current resources, but I am sure there was a distribution center in Charleston that both distributed and collected bottles. This company dissolved in 1940 (WV Sec. State, 2025).
Kanawha Farmers’ Dairy
1926—1931
Kanawha Farmers Dairy incorporated in 1926 with a capital stock of $10,000 (WV Sec. of State, 2025). They then, in 1931, changed their name to Capital Dairy and used the bottles in that section.
Kanawha Milk Distributors, Inc.
1932—1939; 1938—2001
The 1932 charter year comes from a “Hot Line” segment in The Charleston Daily Mail (1970), which are remarkably unreliable, but West Virginia Secretary of State records (2025) corroborate this founding year, adding that the incorporators were C.A. Lewis, W.H. Vickers, et al. The company then dissolved in 1939, though another Kanawha Milk Distributors began in 1938 with different incorporators (WV Sec. State, 2025), including A.T. Bonham who had a dairy [bottle] of their own in Guthrie. This latter company dissolved in 2001. I am presuming the first company sold out to the second company.
Kanawha Milk Distributors, Inc. Mid-body script. Pint. Likely the earliest mold design.
A round quart with shoulder script embossing.
A square, shoulder-embossed half-pint with "KMD" monogram on front.
Same bottle as left. "Charleston" on back.
Kanawha Milk Distributors Inc. w/ KMD monogram. Shoulder-embossed. Half-pint.
A shoulder-embossed, square quart with the KMD monogram and town inset.
An embossed and red pyro quart with an advertisement for Butter Krust bread. Front.
An embossed and red pyro quart with an advertisement for Butter Krust bread.
An embossed and orange pyro quart with an advertisement for Conquest Coffee. Front.
An embossed and orange pyro quart with an advertisement for Conquest Coffee. Back.
An embossed and blue pyro quart with an advertisement for Stokely's canned vegetables. Front.
An embossed and blue pyro quart with an advertisement for Stokely's canned vegetables. Back.
An embossed and brown pyro quart with an advertisement for Imperator Flour. Front.
An embossed and brown pyro quart with an advertisement for Imperator Flour. Back.
An embossed and black pyro quart with an advertisement for Woodrum's furniture store. Front.
An embossed and black pyro quart with an advertisement for Woodrum's furniture store. Back.
Kanawha Valley Dairy Co.
1915
Kanawha Valley Dairy Company first appears in an ad on November 1, 1915, placing it at 706 Bigley Avenue with Phone 2638 ("Kanawha Valley Dairy Co., 1915). Evidently, their milk arrived from Greenbrier county farms. They, however, do not appear in the September 1915 Dun & Bradstreet, nor the September 1916 one. I suspect they may have only survived for a few months.
G.P. Kinser
1916(?)—1937(?)
The first mention of a George A. Kinser I can locate is in 1916, wherein he is listed amongst other dairies for those raising their prices (“Charleston Dairymen”, 1916). With him in this push to increase their prices were J.W. Dyer, O.G. Riling, the Vorholt Brothers, Charleston Dairy Co., and Joseph Weber. In April 4, 1920, the contents of his milk are analyzed among other dairies (“Milk Tests”, 1920). It appeared Kinser had very low-fat and low-solids milk! Again, G.P. Kinser does not appear in any Dun & Bradstreet listings from the years surrounding this, nor the year itself. He disappears from the news until 1937, where he is listed again amongst other Charleston-area dairies (“Grade Is High”, 1937).
Lewis Brothers
1918—1922
The first Lewis Brothers advertisement I located is from September 21, 1918 advertising their clean, un-raw milk (Lewis Brothers, 1918). An article from 1920 suggests that only Lewis Brothers and Tip Top Dairy were selling pasteurized milk at the time (“Quality of Milk”, 1920). Despite this, perhaps they were not pasteurizing their milk in practice, as just a month later Lewis Brothers failed to meet the standard of the city chemist for too great a bacterial content (“Milk Tested”, 1920). Lewis Brothers would close its doors in name by 1922, as it merged with Tip Top Dairy to form Valley Bell Dairy (“New Dairy Plant”, 1922). Valley Bell Dairy had been in operation, at least in name, as early as 1921, as advertisements exist from this year with both dairies’ names below “Valley Bell Dairy Co.” (Valley Bell Dairy Co., 1921).
J.E. McKinney
ca. 1930s
The only mention of J.E. McKinney’s dairy was in the 1937 article listing the dairies that passed chemist inspection (“Grade Is High”, 1937). I don’t believe that this dairy began so late, as this is quite an older mold of milk bottle, but it gives an idea as to its longevity.
Mt. Vernon Dairy
1931—1972
What can even be said about Mount Vernon Dairy that hasn’t been said in more poetic and retrospective terms? Well, that’s the point of this section I suppose. Mt. Vernon is shrouded in mystery, in a sense, because nearly all aggregated information about it is through Facebook reminiscence. As well and good as that is, it doesn’t provide much information about the bottle.
What I have found is that Mount Vernon Farm Dairy Products incorporated in 1931 with a capital of $50,000—right around $1,000,000 today (“Three Chartered”, 1931). The incorporators were H.F. Shadle, Harold B. Shadle, and James B. Weber. Obviously, companies can operate without incorporating, but this gives us a good idea as to when the dairy began in earnest, though some articles discuss the Mount Vernon Farm some years prior to 1931.
The problem with the below bottle is that I can’t find anything on a J.F. Robertson connected to the dairy. Nor can I find anything on a J.F. Robertson connected to any Mount Vernon in the country. Perhaps Robertson was the manager of the plant; this I am unsure of for now. There is another Mount Vernon bottle that is certainly from Charleston, as it bears the town name, but this one is currently still a mystery.
In 1972, the Secretary of Mount Vernon Farm Dairy Products, a Mr. Roy B. Rollins, dissolved the company (“Legal Advertisements”, 1972). Despite such a long run for the company, bottles from this dairy are hard to find and, due to the emotional connection still fresh in the minds of Charlestonians, even more difficult to obtain.
Earl Newcomber
19??—19??
Pruett Bros.
19??—19??
G.C. Riling
19??—19??
Tip Top Dairy
1905(?)—1922
The first mention of Tip Top Dairy comes in a 1905 advertisement they submitted, soliciting a farmhand for their dairy farm (“Wanted”, 1905). In 1916, they increase their prices quite significantly with other dairymen of the town (“Charleston Dairymen”, 1916). As stated in the Lewis Brothers history, they formed with their company to form Valley Bell Dairy around 1921 (Valley Bell Dairy Company, 1921; “New Dairy Plant”, 1922).
Valley Bell Dairy Co.
1921—1987
Vorholt Brothers
1910—1937(?)
The Vorholt Brothers are mentioned in a 1914 excerpt of Charleston news for the South Side, claiming that they were preparing a new barn for their “large” dairy herd (“South Side”, 1914). In the blurb, it is mentioned that—until this point—the herd was kept in Kanawha City (which at this time was mostly undeveloped). There is a large gap until 1935, when it is mentioned that the Vorholt Brothers won the first and second place in a dairy cattle competition for their Holstein and Guernsey cattle (“25,000 Inspect”, 1935). The final article available to me in which they are mentioned is in 1937, which mentions them preparing for another competition and claiming they began their dairy business twenty-seven years prior (“Cattle Exhibitors”, 1937). I am unsure as to when they bottled their milk branded with their name, but I suspect this time period was much shorter than their actual time as a dairy due to the scarcity of their bottles.
Vorholt Bros. Hobtail neck. One pint.
Vorholt Bros. Hobtail neck. Half-pint.
References
25,000 inspect 4-H exhibits. (1935, September 11). The Charleston Daily Mail, 3.
Cattle exhibitors for fair listed. (1937, July 29). The Charleston Daily Mail, 12.
Charleston dairymen will raise price 20 per cent on pints and 10 by quart. (1916, September 23). The Charleston Daily Mail, 1.
Grade is high for city milk. (1937, January 17). The Charleston Daily Mail, 19.
Kanawha Farm Dairy (1925, January 11). Milk—grade “A” [advertisement]. The Charleston Daily Mail, 17.
Hot line. (1970, July 31). The Charleston Daily Mail, 9.
Kanawha Valley Dairy Company (1915, November). All jersey milk [advertisement]. The Charleston Daily Mail, 2.
Kohne painfully hurt. (1918, September 11). The Charleston Daily Mail, 8.
Legal advertisements. (1972, June 3). The Charleston Daily Mail, 3.
Legal notice. (1934, December 20). Charleston Daily Mail, 26.
Legal notice. (1936, January 18). The Charleston Daily Mail, 9.
Lewis Brothers (1918, September 21). Sign of clean milk [advertisement]. The Charleston Daily Mail, 5.
Milk tested shows four samples below standard. (1920, February 2). The Charleston Daily Mail, 10.
Milk tests announced by the city chemist. (1920, April 4). The Charleston Daily Mail, 43.
New dairy plant to be opened here this week. (1922, June 4). The Charleston Daily Mail, 21.
Quality of milk here rated good in report. (1920, January 3). The Charleston Daily Mail, 6.
South Side. (1914, September 19). The Charleston Daily Mail, 2.
State House briefs. (1930, February 5). The Charleston Daily Mail, 3.
Three chartered. (1931, December 4). The Charleston Daily Mail, 23.
Valley Bell Dairy Company. (1921, October 9). Here’s health and happiness in every glass [advertisement]. The Charleston Daily Mail, 35.
Wanted. (1905, December 13). The Weekly Register, 3.
West Virginia Secretary of State. (2025). Business entity details: The Cline Ice Cream Co. https://apps.wv.gov/SOS/BusinessEntitySearch/Details.aspx?Id=RKF0ohJqZtNgRW9Mh4wkCg==&Search=i5BSjH2rQ18cQUAI5zN8MQ%3d%3d&Page=0
West Virginia Secretary of State. (2025). Business entity details: Crescent Dairy, Inc. https://apps.wv.gov/SOS/BusinessEntitySearch/Details.aspx?Id=CXCLnUCxCt0cMitMwx+/WQ==&Search=NF08%2flDwd3Ih6CKob7Yi0Q%3d%3d&Page=0
West Virginia Secretary of State. (2025). Business entity details: Kanawha Farmer Dairy. https://apps.wv.gov/SOS/BusinessEntitySearch/Details.aspx?Id=JirU0FXbD7GrYN1TubNxOg==&Search=CO%2fXzCBR+Nn9v+ujU73djA%3d%3d&Page=0
West Virginia Secretary of State. (2025). Business entity details: Kanawha Farmers Dairy. https://apps.wv.gov/SOS/BusinessEntitySearch/Details.aspx?Id=XoDvImOeEl9XrbIK/8S8kA==&Search=IXHBn1qpbMMN8gF%2fsZAGzw%3d%3d&Page=0
West Virginia Secretary of State. (2025). Business entity details: Kanawha Milk Distributors, Inc. https://apps.wv.gov/SOS/BusinessEntitySearch/Details.aspx?Id=eykbCaV8bW8ntGBjsHy4Tg==&Search=n7gdBIfO0WFzEJ4xH+xOxA%3d%3d&Page=0
[2nd KMD] West Virginia Secretary of State. (2025). Business entity details: Kanawha Milk Distributors, Inc. https://apps.wv.gov/SOS/BusinessEntitySearch/Details.aspx?Id=czRPiBkG12r8MbOXNLCsXg==&Search=n7gdBIfO0WFzEJ4xH+xOxA%3d%3d&Page=0