In the 1940s, as many as four hundred Indiana dairies delivered fresh milk to Hoosiers across the state. By 1995, only twelve remained1. In Muncie, many remember Riggin’s, Producer’s, and Covalt’s, but one of Delaware County’s more obscure establishments was Orchard Lawn, operated by William H. Ball to supply patients of the brand-new Ball Memorial Hospital with fresh milk.
A big chunk of Muncie’s history is tied to the Ball Brothers, five New York industrialists who moved their glass business here in the 1880s. It didn’t take long for Ball fruit jars to become ubiquitous, and the brothers and their families became fabulously wealthy.
The Ball family was rich, but they were also community-minded and philanthropic. In 1926, they announced a million-dollar donation to erect and endow a new hospital next to the burgeoning Ball Teachers College that they purchased out of foreclosure several years earlier.
“For some time we have sensed Muncie’s needs for better hospital facilities,” Frank Ball announced on behalf of the family, “and it was with the idea of bringing nearer home these better facilities for the care of the afflicted that we decided upon the gift for a new hospital for Muncie2.”
The facility represented a substantial upgrade from Muncie’s extant Home Hospital which, as its name implied, was located in an actual house, albeit an expanded one3. The three-story, Collegiate Gothic structure opened in 1929 with a planned capacity of 150 beds4. Prevailing attitudes of the day believed that milk was “the best single food known to man” and “essential to young and old alike5”, so it only made sense that the hospital had a fresh supply. That’s where W. H. Ball came in.
The son of Ball Brothers’ secretary William C. Ball, William H. arrived in Muncie with his parents at three years old. A graduate of Howe Military Academy, Hillsdale College, and Cornell University, Ball served in France during World War I. Afterwards, he became secretary and Vice President of Ball Brothers Company. He established the Orchard Lawn Dairy in 1929.
The dairy sat on what was known as “the old Billy Cox place6,” at the corner of Center Pike and Eaton-Wheeling Pike about two miles west of Eaton. The land was deeded to Isaac and William Cox during the 1830s. In 1882, the Cox family sold a parcel to Union Township officials to build a District 4 schoolhouse. Will Nottingham acquired the land years later and, in 1929, sold it to William H. Ball -his-brother-in-law- for a dollar7.
Orchard Lawn wasn’t the only local dairy owned by the Ball family. Frank E. And Edmund A. Ball established the Green Hills Dairy southeast of Muncie around 1932. W.H. Ball owned another Orchard Lawn dairy at Bethel Pike and Tillotson Avenue, where milk from his dairy near Eaton was processed.
The landmark feature of the northern Orchard Lawn Dairy was its enormous, hipped-roof barn. According to legend, a barn twice its size was cut in half to be moved to the dairy, but the second segment washed down the river during the trip8. The barn’s equipment included separate stalls, stanchions, and fresh water fountain for each cow. Feed was sent to the cows from two 12×45-foot glazed tile silos9 by a series of cars running on tracks10. A complete ventilation system connected to three cupolas on the roof ensured the operartion was sanitary.
The entire operation worked like this: milk was brought from the dairy’s milking machines to a handling room to be aerated and poured into sterile cans. The cans were transported to a hundred-gallon refrigerator at the other Orchard Lawn Farm, where it was stored until the hospital, which pasteurized the milk, needed it11.
Aside from its barn, the dairy consisted of 120 acres of pasture for cows to graze. On opening day, more than 4,000 people -nearly ten percent of Muncie’s population- visited the place12! Despite the interest, W.H. Ball wasn’t content to rest on his laurels. In 1932, he added Indiana’s first DeLaval combine milking equipment and a tile sanitation plant to the facility.
The updates meant that milk from Orchard Lawn was produced without touching human hands: milk from each cow was drawn by suction into sterile glass bottles. Once weighed, the bottles were sent through a vacuum system without direct contact. From there, they pasteurized, double-capped, and sealed.
Every doctor from Ball Memorial Hospital attended the dairy’s re-christening13 and Orchard Lawn’s expanded capacity allowed for consumer delivery. Ball Bonded Milk was introduced to the market, and the first delivery went out to consumers on March 23, 1932, under a partnership with Covalt’s14.
Covalt’s distributed Ball Bonded Milk for two years until it purchased Orchard Lawn outright along with the Balls’ Green Hills Dairy15. Twenty-six years later, Covalt merged with Beatrice Foods Company, the maker of Meadow Gold products16. By then known as the Meadow Gold Dairy, the facility was purchased by Best Ever Dairy of Anderson in 198417. Best Ever eventually became part of Prairie Farms.
The consolidation of the dairy industry was influenced by a combination of economic, technological, and market factors. Economies of scale meant larger companies operated more efficiently, and conglomerates had stronger market access and bargaining power with distributors and retailers. After eight years of distributing Best Ever products under their own brand name, Muncie’s last holdout, Riggin’s, was sold to Best Ever in 199218.
After its years as a dairy, Orchard Lawn near Eaton became a showplace for W.H. Ball’s prize-winning Guernsey cattle. Ball sold the property in 1947. He said he’d broken even on the venture but simply wasn’t able to spend as much time at the property as he desired19.
The same year, Ball retired from Ball Brothers. Over the next few years, he worked for the CIA in Washington, D.C. under General Walter Bedell Smith. In 1953, he served as President Eisenhower’s representative at an exhibition in Zimbabwe. Ball eventually moved to Indianapolis and built the city’s first Volkswagen dealership. He was an active member of several corporate and cultural boards in his final years and died in 1980 at eighty-six. He lived a fascinating life!
Unfortunately, two farms that once housed the Ball dairies didn’t share Mr. Ball’s longevity: Green Hills was converted to the Green Hills Golf Course and Country Club in 195120. Today, it’s known as Cardinal Hills. Four years later, Orchard Lawn Farm at Bethel and Tillotson was replaced by the Orchard Lawn addition to the city of Muncie.
Muncie grocer Duane Wise purchased the Orchard Lawn farm near Eaton in 1967. Soon, it became home to three hundred Charolais cattle along with elk and bison that provided meat for Wise’s Supermarkets on Walnut Street and East Memorial Drive21. Today, Orchard Lawn’s old barn near Eaton still stands proudly on its perch over the Mississinewa River. It’s part of A&W Elk Farm, which Wise founded with his daughter and son-in-law.
Unfortunately, the barn at Orchard Lawn, a brick barn at the Riggin property, and the old Covalt’s complex are pretty much all that’s left of Delaware County’s old dairies. Little, if anything, remains of the Producer’s, Nottingham, Johnson Jersey, and Whitney dairies these days! Although it only housed a dairy for five years, I’m thankful that the barn at A&W Elk Farm still stands as a testament to the area’s history, as well as the vision of W.H. Ball, Duane Wise, and the Alexander Family which owns the property today. Its story is worth appreciating, even if you’re lactose intolerant like me!
Sources Cited
1 Price, L. (1995, June 2). Dairy owner: I saw trend coming years ago. The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 5.
2 Ball Families Give Away $1,650,000 (1926, February 3). The Muncie Star. p. 1.
3 Magic City Has Hospital That Is Among Best (1914, July 12). The Muncie Star. p. 15.
4 (See footnote 2).
5 Knott, H. (1932, March 20). Orchard Lawn Dairy Most Modern in the State. The Muncie Star. Pp, 25-30.
6 White, C. (1947, December 22). Orchard Lawn, Farm Show Place of County, Up For Public Auction. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
7 Delaware County, Indiana. (1929, April 3). Deed Book 211. p. 446.
8 McBride, M. (2006, July 20). Family finds new uses for old barns. The Muncie Star Press. p. 19.
9 A Modernly Equipped Barn (1929, September 15). The Muncie Star. p. 6.
10 The Two Standards of Perfection (1929, September 15). The Muncie Star. p. 6.
11 Orchard Lawn Dairy Farm One of Finest in Indiana (1929, September 15). The Muncie Star. p. 21.
12 Ball Dairy Farm Is Visited By 4,000 (1929, September 16). The Muncie Star. p. 12.
13 13 Dairy Farm Opening Attended By Many (1932, March 23). The Muncie Star. p. 8.
14 (See footnote 5).
15 Covalt Company In Expansion Move (1934, April 2). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 11.
16 Covalt Dairy Co. and Beatrice Foods Merge (1960, July 19) The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
17 Francisco, B. (1984, February 7). Muncie Dairy Sold to Anderson Firm. The Muncie Star. p. 12.
18 Lucas, D. (1992, September 26). Area ends as Riggin’s Dairy sold to Best Ever of Anderson. p. 15.
19 Orchard Lawn Farm is Sold to Doc Bookout (1947, December 23). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 9.
20 Hiner, J. (1951, January 21). New Country Club Will Open in May. The Muncie Star. p. 10.
21 Baer, D. (1978, February 25). Shaggy buffalo roaming the ‘plains’ at Wise farm. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 2.
