Meridale Farms Remembered

Cyndee Pattison/DCT

Over 30 people came to the Delaware County Historical Association on September 11 for a presentation about Meridale Farms made by local historian Willie Jurjens who has collected information and memorabilia about Meridale Farms for at least 50 years. Francis Wayland Ayer and Henry McKinney founded Meridale Farms in 1888; they purchased and imported the farms’ first Jersey dam and bull from the Isle of Jersey located in the English Channel. At that time, Jerseys known as “easy keepers,” the breed that produced the most butter fat from the least amount of feed.

Jurjens noted that at its zenith, Meridale Farms employed at least 50 men and women. It was so well known that buyers came from every state in the country and from several foreign nations to purchase cows at auction in Meridale. These farms produced Meridale butter, Meridale cheese and milk and remained active until 1945 when it changed hands finally closing permanently in 1985.

Jurjens narrated and showed sections of a silent film made at Meridale Farms in 1916 about making butter and preparing cows for auction. Above, Jurjens is standing in front of some of the memorabilia he has collected wearing the only known lock engraved with Meridale Farms worn by all cows at auctions.