Farm Memories

By John E. Calhoun 

The following are several paragraphs about various aspects of farm life during my childhood and young adult years. 

My grandfather, John E. Calhoun, over the course of several years during the 1890s, had built the three barns which exist today in Coltsfoot Valley. The valley barn, now the Neubauer property, was used to raise the young stock - heifers - eventually to be bred for the milking herd in the big barn at the north end of the valley. The middle barn, now owned by Jeff and Gail Jacobson, housed a small herd of Devon beef cows; feed, hay and various implements were also stored there.

Calhoun Barn, Jewell Street, from a glass plate negative, circa 1905.

Coltsfoot Farm Milk Bottle

Our collections include this fun milk bottle from the Coltsfoot Farm.

Coltsfoot Farm was started in 1885 by John Edward Calhoun, taking its name from the Coltsfoot Valley, where his cattle grazed.

The slogan, "a bottle of milk is a bottle of health," was introduced by the Thatcher glass manufacturing company of New York and soon became a nationally used slogan.

The Calhoun family sold off their dairy cattle and equipment at a two day auction in 1966. The farm property was leased and the dairy operations continued on site by Ronald Laigle, Robert Laigle, and Raymond Thuillard.

Coltsfoot Farm closed permanently in the mid-1980s.

View of Coltsfoot Valley today.