The plaque, in part, reads:
Littleton Creamery - Beatrice Cold Storage Warehouse
1903
A prominent industrial work of Gove & Walsh architects, 1801 Wynkoop is a wonder of bricklaying craftsmanship. the building was constucted in several phases. Beginning in 1903, as a refrigeration warehouse first for Littleton Creamery, then the Beatrice Creamery. Butter, cheese, cream and dairy supplies were stored here from 1903 to 1979, when conversion to office and showroom space was delayed seven weeks until three feet of ice was defrosted from the walls. To enliven a large brick box, Gove and Walsh used polychromatic bricks in a variety of geometric designs.
[NOTE: The plaque is found at N39° 45.230, W104° 59.906]
The building has been converted to lofts with a few small businesses on the street-level floor.
"Late in the 1890's in the Midwest, George E. Haskell and William W. Bosworth lost their jobs with the bankrupt Fremont Butter and Egg Company during the silver panic of '93. Striking out on their own the next year, they formed the partnership firm of Haskell and Bosworth with headquarters in Beatrice, Nebraska.
Initially, the firm purchased butter, eggs, poultry and produce from local farmers for resale to manufacturers and distributors. Later they began churning their own butter and distributing it to area grocery stores, restaurants and hotels with their own equipment. Incorporating in 1889 as the Beatrice Creamery Company, the firm began financing a program that enabled farmers to buy hand cream separators; reducing frequent trips to distant skimming stations and leaving skim milk on their farm where it was available for feed. With proceeds from the cream paying for the separators, more than 50,000 of these units were sold to farmers in the next few years.
The cold storage warehouse business was a natural early development since refrigeration is necessary for the production and storage of butter. Shortly thereafter, the company's first ice cream plant began operating in Topeka, Kansas in 1907, and its first fluid milk plant was opened in Denver in 1923.
During this same period, another company was creating a name for itself in the dairy industry as well. On November 12, 1901, the U.S. Patent Office granted the Continental Creamery Company of Topeka a trademark for the name 'Meadow Gold". It had been selected by Continental employees through a contest in search for a name to describe the golden quality of their fresh creamery butter. In 1905, Continental and Meadow Gold brand of dairy products joined the Beatrice Creamery family.
Within the following thirty-some years, the Meadow Gold name moved West, specifically in Utah where Arden family took on the name to become Arden's Meadow Gold Dairy. Over the ensuing years, the dairy name was abbreviated to become simply Meadow Gold Dairies, which remains today.
The past two decades saw the Borden operations buy out Beatrice ownership of Meadow Gold, creating a nationwide dairy and related products company. Borden's Dairy Division was headquartered in Columbus, Ohio until the fall of 1995, when it was moved to Ogden, Utah.
Effective September 4, 1997, Meadow Gold Dairies was acquired by the Southern Food Group, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Southern Foods Group is a leading manufacturer of dairy products in the Texas. Southern Foods Group is a leading manufacturer of dairy products in the Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi markets." (from (
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