Hello all! Hope you enjoyed that warm, sunny October and have survived the annual plunge into afternoon darkness that Daylight Savings Time brings. You’ll recall that a few posts back, the Dunning family acquired a car and began to take day trips around the area. Today’s pictures are evidence that one of those first trips was to Borden Farm. (Where else would a dairy farming family want to visit?)
John Gail Borden originally bought the farm in 1881 after moving to the Walkill area. John’s father, Gail, was one of the founders of New York Condensed Milk Company. Gail invented and patented condensed milk in 1865. The federal government then paid the company to supply it the Union Army during the Civil War, since it wouldn’t spoil like liquid milk. You can find a very thorough and interesting history here of Gail and John Gail Borden.
There is also an “About Gail” page on the Borden Dairy’s website here. Did you know that the company continues to feature the Elsie the Cow symbol? I actually reached up on my tippy toes and grabbed a can of Eagle Condensed Milk from my pantry to verify, and was pretty amazed to see the familiar logo there.
After the death of his father, John Gail became President of the company. This article in Ulster Magazine provides a very nice history of the Borden Farm and the family’s legacy in Walkill. The photos I have don’t even show a fraction of the extent of the Home Farm that the Bordens owned. As per the Ulster Magazine article “records from 1889 show the robust farm included 246 beef cattle, 250 hogs, 600 sheep, 400 poultry, 77 milking cows, 50 young heifers and bulls, 650 apple trees, 110 acres of corn, and it produced 200 bushels of rye and 1,000 bushels of oats.”
In the above picture you can see a few of the buildings on the farm and one of a network of walking paths. I can’t imagine the extent of the farm in that period but I did notice that only three years ago they were still selling property from it.
This last picture features one of the grander buildings and what looks like the owner of a new 1915 Cadillac. One might speculate that the sober-suited man showing off the car, in front of what looks like a Borden home is a Borden himself but what do I know? Maybe he’s a handsome tour guide.
Hope you’ve enjoyed our trip today. A grateful salute to all you veterans out there and a big hug to everyone.
Don’t know how I missed this hug. I have no idea of where the Borden Farm is located. A great history lesson including ” Elsie the Cow ” and condensed milk. Dad
Thanks, dad. 🙂
I had the pleasure of meeting Norma Dunning farmer, MD in 1986 at Farmington, MO. She was my mentor. I was fresh out of residency in charge of the admission ward at Farmington state hospital. I miss her! She died st 105 years old at the Presbyterian home. I met her niece as well , when she visited her. So nice to see that piece of writing if when she was a surgeon in India. She has a sari of pure silver threads as she showed it to me . Dr. Linda Arzola, MD
Thank you so much for commenting, Dr. Arzola! That she touched your life so much for you to look her up and find this site truly amazes me. I’m sure she was so proud to have been your mentor. What a beautiful memory of her showing you the sari: thank you for sharing that with everyone. In fact, you may be interested to know that I was also contacted by a young man from India who also found the post that I had written about Dr. Dunning Farmer. He told me that his mother had been one of her patients in the town and that the hospital is still there today.
Btw, she started that hospital from a former British fort . She married a British officer and moved to Farmington with hubby about 1950. She was in India from 1926 till 1948. She was surgeon to the maharaja , royal family, as well. She spoke their language fluently. Did you ever meet her stepson or niece??? I would like to contact them someday, if they feel comfortable with that. Hopefully, her portrait as one of the founding members of that hospital is not in the basement. Do you know the name of hospital? She always wanted me to visit the hospital in kolopur on her behalf, but I only got as far as Pakistan in 1988. Perhaps the hospital has a website; and I may be able to do FaceTime with hospital??
Thank you for so many wonderful details! Norma was my first cousin twice removed (she and my grandmother shared the same grandparents) so I would not have seen her sari and did not know her or her children. You may be interested to know that an Indian journalist from the town of Kolhapur reached out to me after having seen my blog to say that many of the old citizens there remember her as a good doctor and a kind lady. He told me that the Mary Wanless hospital is still standing there and shared a newspaper article confirming what you’ve written:
“She was put in charge of that hospital which came under control of the Presbyterian Mission in 1909 as a gift from the Maharajah of the State of Kolhapur. In 1932, she was appointed through the viceroy of India’s government, as residency surgeon for the Resident of Kolhapur and as physician to the governor general and his staff.”
– The Evening Star, Washington D.C., November 5, 1938
Forgot to say that I was thrilled to see the pic of Dr, Norma at the age of 12! Thanks for sharing that pic
It’s my pleasure, Dr. Arzola. Really, the fact that you found it and enjoyed it makes the whole point of getting this website up feel worth the effort. Sending my best to you and yours!
There was a lady long ago who I met who was also from India. Here in buffalo, ny. She was a little girl and her mom would walk for miles to have dr Norma as her doctor. In fact, many would walk fir miles as she said she was exceptional. Do your family have her silver thread Sarcee?? And how are you related to Norma? Norma grew to be an old friend; I had to leave after one year . Mom and I revisited her when she was 98 and went to the nursing home. Her stepson moved to Oklahoma. She would show me pics of his family . Never got to meet him. And do you know of her niece? She never told me that her brother had the same birthdate as I; I learned that from your website. We would meet daily with friends and go to day trips and attend trips with the Presbyterian church there. She had a Sunday school class . She was quite active in the community. Farmington was a town of 7500 at the time. I miss that little town and would’ve moved there if Norma was still around. Her niece would visit her from time to time.