Appears in
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

By Andrew F. Smith

Published 2004

  • About
Founded in 1907, the Brenham Creamery Company was a dairy farmers’ cooperative that took over an abandoned cotton gin in rural Brenham, Texas, and started making butter from surplus cream. In 1911, it added ice cream, making just two gallons a day. This was packed in ice and salt in a large wooden tub for delivery by horse-and-buggy. But the cooperative was on the verge of failure in 1919 when E. F. Kruse, a respected local teacher, was asked to take over as general manager. His leadership reversed the company’s fortunes.