Read time: 12 min.

Convenience stores are an integral part of our urban landscape. In this age of perpetual motion and ever-tightening schedules, they provide invaluable services. As common as they are today, quick-stop shops were few and far between around Muncie as recently as sixty years ago. That changed in 1962 when a dairy in tiny Cambridge City, Indiana, entered the market with its cutting-edge chain of Miller Milkhouses.

The story of the Miller Milkhouse started inauspiciously. It began in rural Rush County in 1902, when Lotus F. Miller was born. Miller attended class in a one-room schoolhouse in Walker Township, but went on to graduate from Rushville High School and Purdue University. After taking a year of advanced chemistry classes at Iowa State College, he returned home and purchased the bankrupt Cambridge City Milk Company with $4,000 his father gave him¹.

After he removed the padlocks from its doors, Miller joined forces with a cousin who owned the nearby Cambridge Ice Company. The merger created the Cambridge Ice and Dairy Company², which evolved into Miller Ice and Dairy in 1947 after Miller bought his cousin’s share³.

Business quickly picked up. Miller’s original plant grew from 3,600 square feet to more than 45,000! In 1933, the dairy leased a storefront on the National Road in the big city of Richmond. Miller opened an ice cream store in Connersville the following year, and a third store on West Main Street in Richmond entered the marketplace in 1940⁴.

Miller Dairy outlets emphasized economy, efficiency, and aesthetics. Those ideals were perhaps most apparent in the company’s second Richmond location. A gleaming white building with a glass exterior, it was designed so all its operations could be housed within a single room. In the 1940s, Miller sold sixteen flavors of ice cream, a handful of sherbets, and all kinds of ice cream pies, cakes, sodas, and sundaes⁵.

The company continued to grow. In 1942, the Miller store at West Main Street was expanded into the Miller Cafeteria, which became widely known for its comfort food⁶. The restaurant served daily specials of ham, beans, and cornbread; a vegetable or salad plate; a stuffed baked potato; meat loaf; and a salmon patty with pea sauce⁷.

Despite the pea sauce, Miller Cafeteria rose to prosperity in its early days. Miller Dairy reinforced its success with new developments on the milk side of things: the company was one of the first in the area to maintain its own fleet of refrigerated trucks, and Miller was one of the earliest dairies to use vacuum pasteurization in its milking operation⁸. Eventually, L. F. Miller introduced yet another innovation: the convenience store.

Convenience stores weren’t new to most areas the 1960s, but they sure were in East-Central Indiana! It’s hard to believe, but the concept actually began in 1927 when the Southland Corporation of Dallas, Texas, added dairy products to its small, ice-stack stores called 7-Eleven. Growth in the sector was meteoric. By the time the National Association of Convenience Stores was established in 1961, the category featured 158 chains featuring 6,000 individual stores in forty-five states⁹!

7-Eleven and Circle K dominated Texas. Li’l General gained a foothold in the northeast. U-Totem took control of the southwest, and Convenient Food Mart ran Ohio. The Indiana market was ripe for the taking! L.F. Miller turned the reigns over to his son John by the time the segment was exploding, but it didn’t stop him from drawing up plans for a new concept L.F. called the Miller Milkhouse.

Miller’s idea was simple: each location sold staples like milk, bread, eggs, ice cream, cold cuts, soft drinks, cigarettes, and frozen foods. Prefabricated structures, Milk Houses featured a Googie-style chevron roof that allowed customers to make purchases without leaving their car or getting wet in the rain¹⁰.

Miller’s new concept came twelve years before McDonald’s opened its first drive-thru¹¹, but L.F. Miller didn’t just provide an innovative design. He also broke new ground in staffing! Miller was nearing his sixties, and he chafed at the idea of a mandatory retirement age. From then on, he decided to hire seniors. They worked a maximum of five hours per shift so their social security benefits weren’t impacted¹².

The first Miller Milkhouses opened in 1962 on South Ninth and North Tenth Streets in Richmond. A third arrived three years later at West Third Street, and a fourth soon opened at the corner of Seventeenth and Main¹³. Miller opened three Milkhouses in Muncie in 1964 and beat Marsh Supermarkets’ Village Pantry division to market by two years¹⁴. In 1968, Muncie’s fourth Milkhouse opened at 1313 W. McGaliiard Road¹⁵.

Business kept growing. In 1981, the company purchased the Jiffy-Store carry-out at 601 S. A Street in Richmond to convert into a Milkhouse. Two years later, the Miller Cafeteria was expanded to include a banquet hall and catering center¹⁶. L.F. Miller died in 1987, and by the 1990s, the tide was turning. The Milkhouse on McGalliard in Muncie was demolished to make way for a Blockbuster Video in 1993, and although the company planned to open a new store elsewhere, plans stalled. Instead, Lawson’s Cardinal Shell station at McGalliard and Oakwood agreed to sell Miller Dairy products the following year¹⁷.

In 1994, Miller lost money after four of its biggest accounts reduced their dairy orders thanks to the increased competition superstores brought. The pinch led the industry to consolidate, and by 1995, only twelve dairies operated across the country¹⁸. That year, John Miller sold most of the company’s milk business to the Best-Ever Dairy in Anderson. Miller shifted focus to produce NutraBalance, a speciality health supplement, at his plant in Cambridge City¹⁹.

The Miller Dairy in Cambridge City only lasted another year. In 1995, it was sold to Maplehurst Farms. Although John Miller was forced to combat rumors that his company had declared bankruptcy, he continued operating its cafeteria, banquet hall, catering service, and Milkhouses from a 2,000-square-foot building half a mile southeast of the old plant²⁰.

Unfortunately, what was left of the company continued to shrink: in 1998, the fifty-six-year-old Miller Cafeteria shut its doors. “The problem in Richmond is we have a lot more places to eat and no new tummies²⁰,” John Miller said. The vacant cafeteria was converted into a funeral home in 2006²¹. 

As innovative as they were in the 1960s, some of the sheen had worn off as the rest of retail caught up with the concept. In 1999, the Miller Milkhouse at Martin and West Jackson Street in Muncie was demolished to build a liquor store²². Muncie’s remaining branches were shuttered shortly afterwards, but briefly reopened as Mallory Milkhouses in 2004²³. Today, the old store at Highland and Broadway is vacant. The former Milkhouse on Ohio Avenue is home to the Sweet Scoop Friendly Pantry.

Milkhouses in Richmond lasted a little longer. In 2007, MIller’s North 10th Street store closed after the land it stood on was acquired by the state for a road project. Miller’s west side location closed the same year, and the south side location shut down in 2008. “We’re phasing down,” said John Miller, who cited a contract that allowed big vendors to discount their products to large retailers. “The stores have not been making a profit for a few years,” Miller continued. “I hate to give it up because people can shop from their cars. It’s quick and easy²⁴.” 

Quick and easy was right: as a single parent with three kids, my mom made frequent use of Muncie’s Milkhouse at Martin and Jackson so she didn’t have to corral all of us into Marsh! Other people agreed. In 2009, Jeff and Cindy Cregar purchased Miller’s east-side location in Richmond²⁵. Three years later, the couple bought the west-side store²⁶. Today, both stores still operate as The Milk House. “I grew up using the MIlkhouses,” Cindy Cregar recalled after she bought the iconic store. “Milk, bread, ice cream- it was so easy.” 

Both of Richmond’s Milk Houses were packed when I visited last summer. I got in line to buy a Mr. Fog vape pen at the east side store and couldn’t help but feel nostalgic or think how useful a Miller Milkhouse nearby would have been a couple years ago. Richmond residents should consider themselves lucky that the buildings were perfectly tailored to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic!

Unfortunately, the tiny buildings weren’t tailored to much else. Although Miller Milkhouse represented a substantial leap from Southland Corporation’s earliest convenience stores of the 1920s, the industry has continued to advance. In 2017, the Cregars built a third Milk House on the south side of Richmond instead of remodeling the abandoned Milkhouse just a block west. A cinder block structure that measures 2,200 square feet, the modern store is triple the size of the original branches²⁷.

Today, half of the original Miller Milkhouses continue to stand as a testament to L.F. Miller’s innovative spirit. Convenience stores have evolved significantly over the years as they’ve adapted to changing consumer preferences, technological advancements, and market demands, but I miss the days when grandfatherly old men handed a sack of groceries through your car window!

I still feel sharp pangs of nostalgia when I pass an old Miller Milkhouse like the abandoned branch on Highland Avenue in Muncie. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I’ll feel the same in another two decades when I pass a Casey’s, Circle K, or Speedway!

Sources Cited
1 Reynolds, D. (1981, June 21). Miller Corp. has a new president. The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 29. 
2 Truitt, S. (1976, July 28). Miller Dairy Firm Celebrating 50th Anniversary This Year. The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 19.
3 (See footnote 1).
4 New, Modern and Unique Miller Dairy Store is Designed and Equipped for Fast Service (1940, April 3). The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 15.
5 (See footnote 4).
6 Baer, D. (Restaurant review). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 8.
7 New Miller Cafeteria’s All Day Special (1997, June 5). The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 29.
8 Business Spotlight (1994, September 26). The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 5.
9 Creech, F. (1966, September 18). Marsh Plans Large Chain of Self-Serve Food Marts. The Muncie Star. 37. 
10 Milkhouses, Inc., Open Thursday (1962, September 19). The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 15.
11 The first McDonald’s Drive Thru was inspired by U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Huachuca Army Base (2022, November 11). McDonalds. Web. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
12 (See footnote 10).
13 (See footnote 2).
14 (See footnote 9).
15 Ratcliff to Manage Muncie Milkhouses (1968, September 27). The Muncie Star. p. 6.
16 Fasnacht, D. (2006, June 26). Miller Cafeteria a place of memories. The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 1.
17 Store nearly complete (1994, January 20). The Muncie Star. p. 17.
18 Price, L. (1995, June 2). Dairy owner: I saw trend coming years ago. The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 5.
19 Price, L. (1995, June 2). Chunk of local Miller dairy sold. The Richmond Palladium-Item. Pp, 1-2.
20 (See footnote 16).
21 Helmes, R. (2006, June 26). Cafeteria changing to funeral home. The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 1.
22 Roysdon, K. (1999, May 1). Westside liquor store planned. The Muncie Star Press. p. 19. 
23 McBride, M. (2004, April 17) Couple to reopen milk houses. The Muncie Star Press. p. 3.
24 Clark, R. (2007, April 29). Miller Milkhouses could go way of the milkman. The Richmond Palladium-Item. pp. 1-2.
25 Bennett, M. (2009, July 28). Richmond couple buys Milk House because of its convenience. The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 1.
26 Another Milk House reopening today (2012, June 16). The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 4.
27 Shuey, M. (2017, August 31).  Area’s third Milk House opens Friday. The Richmond Palladium-Item. Web. Retrieved October 7, 2023.