We need to conduct more research, as information on this dairy is scarce.
What we do know is that Broadview Farm of La Porte was incorporated with a capital of $25,000 to cultivate and sell farmland. The directors listed were Fordyce B. Caswell, Arthur C. Heimbeck, and Hart W. Swanson, according to The Indianapolis Star, June 22, 1918.
We do not yet know which years they operated as a dairy farm and bottled milk.
The dairy appears to have ended operations after a large explosion destroyed the plant. According to The Indianapolis Star, March 14, 1933, the Broadview Dairy plant in La Porte was destroyed by a blast and fire on March 13, 1933. The reported loss was $5,000. Elmer Johnson was a part owner, and the La Porte Fire Department saved nearby structures.
The article also notes that Johnson said his dairy had recently entered the Michigan City milk market with reduced prices, and that his driver was threatened by rival drivers two weeks before the explosion.
Who knew there was so much competition in the dairy business back then?!
A few years after the fire, an article published in the Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on November 7, 1935, carried a public auction notice for the Broadview Dairy Farm, located three miles north of La Porte on the Springfield and New Buffalo Road. The notice stated that the entire herd of Holstein dairy cows, along with other farm animals and equipment, would be sold at auction after “quitting the dairy business.”
Right now, all we have is an embossing rubbing of a bottle from this dairy. Once we obtain an actual photo, we will add it to the updates section to let everyone know that a real bottle photo has been added.
