Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

COTTAGE CHEESE

Date Range From

1940

Date Range To

1970

Materials

PLASTIC

No. Pieces

2

Height

8.1

Diameter

11.8

Description

1. WHITE ROUND PLASTIC LID WITH RED AND BLUE TEXT READING, "PURITY," "CREAMED COTTAGE CHEESE." RED AND BLUE DECORATIONS ENCIRCLE THE TEXT. HEIGHT 1.0, DIAMETER 11.8. 2. WHITE ROUND PLASTIC CONTAINER, SIDES OF CONTAINER DECORATED WITH RED, YELLOW AND BLUE EASTER MOTIFF DEPICTING CHICKS, EGGS AND RABBITS. HEIGHT 8.0, DIAMETER 11.8.

Subjects

FOOD PROCESSING T&E

Historical Association

BUSINESS

History

COTTAGE CHEESE WAS SOLD IN THREE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CONTAINERS: CARDBOARD CARTONS, PLASTIC CONTAINERS AND BAGS. COTTAGE CHEESE WAS PRODUCED IN LETHBRIDGE PLANT AND DISTRIBUTED TO ALL OTHER PLANTS IN AB AND BC. FOR SIMILAR ARTIFACT, SEE P19930004002. SIMONIE (SAM) FABBI STARTED FABBI DAIRY IN 1923 IN LETHBRIDGE. HE WAS AN ITALIAN IMMIGRANT WHO BEGAN THE BUSINESS WITH THREE COWS AND SOME LARD BUCKETS. THE DAIRY WAS LOCATED AT 12 STREET B NORTH. AT THAT TIME, MILK WAS TRANSPORTED USING LARD PAILS OR CANS, WHICH, WITH THE HELP OF SAM'S SONS, WOULD BE LADLED INTO CUSTOMER’S CONTAINERS. FABBI DAIRY EXPANDED TO THE SOUTHSIDE DAIRY HILL IN THE EARLY 1930’S. SHORTLY AFTERWARDS, FABBI DAIRY BOUGHT CITY DAIRY. SONS STAN AND ROMEO BOUGHT THE BUSINESS FROM THEIR FATHER IN 1936. AT THIS POINT, MILK WAS PACKAGED AND SOLD IN GLASS BOTTLES IN PINT, QUART OR GALLON SIZES. THE DAIRY HAD ITS OWN COWS, WHICH WERE MILKED DAILY AND WOULD PASTURE IN THE COULEES. BY 1936, HOWEVER, MILK AND CREAM WERE BROUGHT IN FROM OFFSITE. BETWEEN 1939 AND 1944, THE FABBI DAIRY BOUGHT PAVAN DAIRY AND THE BELLEVUE DAIRY. AT THAT POINT IN TIME, MANY SMALL DAIRIES WERE SUBJECT TO PASTEURIZATION LAWS, AND CHOSE TO CLOSE DOWN RATHER THAN CONVERT. FABBI DAIRY PURCHASED MAJESTIC THEATRE IN THE LATE 1930’S OR EARLY 1940’S FOR $10,000 FROM MAYOR SHACKERFORD, CONVERTING IT INTO A MILK BOTTLING PLANT. FABBI DAIRY CHANGED ITS NAME TO PURITY DAIRY, AND EXPANDED THROUGHOUT THE LATE 1940’S AND 1950’S, OPENING UP BUSINESSES IN MEDICINE HAT (1948), CALGARY (1950), EDMONTON (1950), CRANBROOK (1958), RED DEER AND TABER. ALL THESE LOCATIONS HAD DAIRIES EXCEPT FOR TABER, WHICH HAD A DEPOT. ACCORDING TO KEN FABBI, STAN FABBI’S SON, STAN AND ROMEO ESTABLISHED A DAIRY IN CALGARY WITHOUT A LICENSE. THE ONLY WAY TO OBTAIN A LICENSE FOR A DAIRY AT THAT TIME WAS TO BUY OUT AN EXISTING DAIRY. EXPANSION WAS SEEN AS NECESSARY TO THE FABBI BROTHERS, IF THEY WERE TO REMAIN IN BUSINESS. THE PURITY DAIRY IN CALGARY WAS DEEMED ILLEGAL, AND IN THE EARLY 1960’S, STAN AND ROMEO FABBI WERE HANDCUFFED AND ARRESTED. PUBLIC SYMPATHY FOR THE FABBI BROTHERS ENABLED THEM TO PURCHASE A LICENSE AFTER THE INCIDENT. PURITY DAIRY HAD MANY INNOVATIVE PRODUCTs THAT OTHER DAIRIES IN TOWN DID NOT HAVE, LIKELY CONTRIBUTING TO THE DAIRY’S POPULARITY WITH THE PUBLIC. PURITY DAIRY WAS THE FIRST DAIRY IN WESTERN CANADA TO RELY SOLELY ON THE USE OF MILK TANKERS, WHICH VISITED VARIOUS LOCALS TO PICK UP MILK AND BRING IT TO THE DAIRY. PRIOR TO 1957, FARMERS WERE REQUIRED TO DELIVER MILK IN CANS TO THE DAIRY THEMSELVES. PURITY DAIRY HAD A SUBSTANTIAL FLEET OF RETAIL DELIVERY VEHICLES. IN ITS EARLY DAYS, HORSES WERE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE DELIVERY SYSTEM. AT ONE POINT, 17 HORSES WERE BEING USED FOR DELIVERY PURPOSES. IN 1959, PURITY DAIRY REPLACED ITS LAST THREE HORSES WITH DELIVERY TRUCKS. IN THE LATE 1950’S, PURITY DAIRY ADVERTISED BEING 100% PURE-PAK, MEANING THAT ALL MILK PRODUCTS CAME IN CARDBOARD CARTONS. BLOW MOLD PLASTIC CONTAINERS REPLACED CARDBOARD SHORTLY AFTER. IN THE 1950'S, PURITY DIARY BEGAN TO STREAMLINE PRODUCTION. BUTTER WAS PRODUCED IN MEDICINE HAT, WHILE THE LETHBRIDGE BRANCH PRODUCED ICE CREAM, NOVELTIES, BUTTER MILK, AND SOUR CREAM, IN ADDITION TO MILK AND COTTAGE CHEESE. THE EDMONTON PLANT SHARED MILK PRODUCTION WITH LETHBRIDGE, AND BECAME THE SOLE PRODUCER OF BLOW MOLD PLASTIC FOR PURITY DAIRY. BUSINESS BEGAN TO FALL IN THE 1960’S, AND IN 1971 STAN AND ROMEO FABBI SOLD PURITY DAIRY TO CO-OP DAIRY, WHICH WAS SUBSEQUENTLY KNOWN AS PURITY CO-OP LTD. BEFORE THE SALE, PURITY DAIRY EMPLOYED ABOUT 200 FULL-TIME STAFF AND SUPPLIED MILK PRODUCTS TO THOUSANDS OF ALBERTANS DAILY. THE LETHBRIDGE PLANT EMPLOYED ABOUT 70 PEOPLE, AND MANUFACTURED ICE CREAM CONFECTIONS, COTTAGE CHEESE, BUTTER, YOGURT, BUTTERMILK, SOUR CREAM, AND FRUIT DRINKS. STAN’S WIFE, NETTI, SAID OF THE SALE, “WE LOST EVERYTHING…WE EXPANDED TOO FAST. I TOLD STAN ‘WHO CARES? I’VE GOT YOU AND WE STILL HAVE THREE MEALS A DAY.’” IN 1972, PURITY CO-OP LTD WAS BOUGHT OUT BY PALM DAIRY, WHICH WAS CLOSED DOWN FOLLOWING A DRAMATIC EXPLOSION IN 1978. IT REOPENED AT A DIFFERENT LOCATION ONE YEAR LATER. IN THE INTERIM, PRODUCTS WERE SHIPPED IN FROM THE CALGARY PLANT. STAN AND ROMEO FABBI DIED IN 1992 AND 1991, RESPECTIVELY. INFORMATION WAS GATHERED IN 2008-09 FROM ANTOINETTE AND KEN FABBI, STAN'S WIFE AND SON, RESPECTIVELY, AND FROM THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARCHIVES. FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20070013001

Acquisition Date

2007-05

Collection

Museum

Less detail