Milk and its related dairy products hold a nostalgic place in many of our hearts, yet there was a time where pure, healthy milk was a rare commodity. That all changed a little over one hundred and fifty years ago when a combination of powerful ideas and persistent conflicts ignited a lucrative market in New York State’s Hudson Valley.

Join Alex Prizgintas at the Pine Bush Area Public Library on Wednesday, October 18 at 6:30 p.m. as he uncovers Orange County, New York’s role in the consumer use of fluid milk. Individuals instrumental in this creamy saga, from Erie Railroad station agent Thaddeus Selleck who first shipped milk by rail in 1842 to milk can pioneer Jacob Vail and the early milk bottle user Alexander Campbell all had close connections to Orange County. The results of their efforts gave birth to the golden age of local agriculture that fueled over 4,000 farms of all kinds by 1884 and kept dairy farms prospering into the mid-twentieth century.

Alex graduated from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY studying Hudson River Valley History and is currently earning his Masters in Public Administration – also from Marist. A life-long resident of Orange County, he has lectured frequently on topics of local history over the past ten years while also having been published on  Orange County’s dairy industry, local railroad lines, the Gomez Mill House, and the Ellenville Glass Works. To register for this program, please call (845) 744-3377.