MTFCA Forum

This photo was taken in June 1919 in Houston Texas of the Phenix dairy Co. starting out delivering milk with horse drawn wagons. When I first saw this I really had to look closely to find a T in the photo. There is one but you really look closely to see it.

I wonder how much longer the company used horse drawn wagons to deliver their product.

My father delivered milk at one time. A BIG benefit of horse drawn versus gas powered is shown in a story my father told: He would load a delivery basket with the items needed for the next few homes or block. Then he would dismount and walk down the block delivering the products as the HORSE walked along on the street. The horse would get to the next "stop" before my father could make the said deliveries, and would wait for him to mount up again.

A definite advantage over leaving a truck in gear and catching it before it hit something.

Across the street at the delivery dock.

That would be a good way to deliver the milk. I’ll bet sooner or later somebody had to clean up after the horse! I can barely remember milk was delivered in bottles at our Grandparents house in the early 50’s in town.

What a fine picture ! I see a T touring in the background by the plant, accompanied by two large trucks, similar to the truck in the foreground loaded with employees. I don't think the trucks were used for home delivery though.
That horses used in that kind of service knew their routes as well or better than their drivers is a common enough story that astounds folks now that we are four or five generations removed from those times. Same for the ice man, the coal man, and any number of folks who slept in their buggy on the way home from the dance.

John kuehn wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 28, 2022 10:28 am

. . . I’ll bet sooner or later somebody had to clean up after the horse . . .

Well, yes. A "Dept. of Street Sanitation" was a prominent feature of every organized municipality along with a constabulary and fire protection. Folks unacquainted with equine emissions imagine huge piles of their own defecation as equivalent. Horse manure is not especially malodorous. Most of it collects in stalls and paddocks in the horse's down time. It's not unusual for a horse to pass its entire working day without relieving himself.

In the back row this vehicle reminds me of the delivery vans from the late 40s early 50s

When I was a boy in the 1940's there was a "Junk Man" who drove a horse with wagon down the street calling out "Junk" as he went along. He was like the fore-runner of the trash truck! Also an Ice man who delivered large blocks of ice about one foot square to put in the ice box. And the milk man who delivered Golden State milk in the Los Angeles area. We got our first refrigerator about 1941 It was a Sears "Cold Spot". I think the milk man and ice man drove trucks, but the junk man used a horse and wagon.
We had a vegetable man, Mr. Curtis who drove a Model T with a vegetable type covered bed with open sides. He had a scale hanging on the back. When we wanted a watermelon, he would actually take out a plug so you could sample it. We lived on a hill, so he would go to the top of the hill and turn around and make his stops going downhill. He would stop in front of our house and serve us and a few neighbors nearby. He would leave the engine idling while parked. His ratchet on the brake lever was worn out and he had a piece of corregated cardboard nailed to the floorboard and put a stick between the cardboard and the lever to keep the brake on. One day that stick slipped. His truck went down the street and finally hit a pole a block away. He went running after it and somehow injured himself so he could hardly walk after that. last time we saw him around 1942 was when he came around to collect some money which was owed him and never saw his T again.
Norm

I don't see any van which looks like 40's or 50's. The two in the center of the enlargement look the same and are earlier than that. The old man on the porch with the beard also looks period correct.
Norm

Ha, Norman I said it reminded me of the those vans not that it was. I never questioned the authenticity of the photo. Forgive my insolence.

Looking at the picture closer there is what looks to be a truck of some sort on the far right hand side on the end. It’s got several office employees standing in the bed I suppose.

Look at the first house to the right of the brick building. You’ll have to zoom in but it appears to be a vehicle with the top up but you can’t see the body so I’m unsure. The second house on the porch I can’t make it out but if it is a person, that person would be huge proportionally speaking unless it’s an optical variance of the camera. The 3rd house appears to have someone watching the events through the screened door of the house. What a great picture. I wonder if the building is still standing in Houston.

I agree it was a staged picture that took a good while to get everyone in place. Especially with getting the horse drawn wagons in place. A street scene is one thing but this took some work to get done.