MONROE — The largest-known collection of Monroe County milk bottles in existence will be on display at the 2024 Monroe County Fair . The display will be open all next week in the South Merchants Building in the Monroe County Historical Society booth.
There are over 30 different county dairy bottles from over 30 different county dairies that will be on display, and the crown jewel of the display will be the one-of-a-kind 1915 Weiss Co. milk carton which was manufactured in Monroe. The Monroe County Historical Society owns the collection and will display it along with four hanging information banners outlining the history of the dairy industry in Monroe County, which date back hundreds of years. It will be the first time the collection has ever been displayed at the Monroe County Fair. David Eby from the Monroe County Historical Society wrote about one special carton in the collection.
It is hard to believe that a cardboard milk carton manufactured in Monroe, Michigan in 1915 could survive for 108 years in Maine and then make its way back to Monroe in one piece in 2023, but that is what happened.
It was while researching the history of the dairy industry in Monroe County that I came across the local made Van Wormer-Weis milk carton and acquired it.
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John Van Wormer of Toledo was granted a patent on July 18, 1911, for a “paper bottle” for milk that he called Pure-Pak. The patent was assigned to the Weis-Van Wormer Co., a new Toledo-based business. John Van Wormer and Andrew Weis were business partners. They formed their company in 1911 in Toledo. John Van Wormer received 25% of the stock in their company. The remaining three quarters of the stock went to the Weis family, which was composed of Andrew Weis and his seven siblings.
The Weis Manufacturing Co. moved to Monroe from Toledo in 1906 where they built a large factory building that still exists. That company made office supplies and furniture.
Later in 1913, John Van Wormer sold his share of the Weis-Van Wormer Co. to the Weis siblings in exchange for some cash and the Weis Manufacturing Co.’s interest in patents related to a folding cake box design. It was about that time that the Weis Fibre Container Co. started.
A lone surviving Weis milk carton was located in October, 2023 in Maine. The 108-year-old milk carton container was found intact with no damage; just some spotting. There was at least one dairy in Monroe County that was using the Weis cartons. That was the Cloverleaf Creamery, which advertised it. Its ad is dated December 18, 1913. In another ad, in January 1914, it was stated, “Delivering pure milk in the famous Weis paper milk bottles.” There was at least one other Michigan dairy that used the early Weis milk cartons, and that was the Warner Dairy located in Farmington in 1916
You might ask how you can tell the purpose of one Weis container over another. In this case the lone surviving Weis ½-half pint milk container has printed on the backside a circle with printed within it “Maine E5 Seal.” That was a designated dairy industry code in Maine and was assigned specifically to the Weis Fibre Container Company of Monroe, Michigan.
On the front of the Weis container, it is printed, “the containers are made from pure spruce wood fibre. After the container is completely formed, it is immersed and dipped in hot refined paraffin. Thus, the inside and outside, including all corners and edges, are coated with refined paraffin. The taste of contents is not affected in any way. Paraffined fibre is a nonconductor of heat and admits no light, therefore contents keep fresh longer. Never refill or reuse this container. Empty and destroy, it burns readily.”
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The round cap on the top I thought initially was metal, but upon examination, it is the same paper fibre as the rest of the carton. The surviving Weis carton has four different patent dates between 1911 and 1915 printed on it.
The Weis cartons were assembled at the Weis factory in Monroe, which still exists, but is today a senior housing facility called Woodcraft Square. How far the Weis cartons were sold is unknown, but they at least made it to Maine from Michigan.
Peter Bleiberg, newsletter editor of the National Association of Milk Bottle Collectors, contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: 108-year-old milk carton among dairy artifacts displayed next week at Monroe County Fair
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