Dolly Madison Ice Cream Carton

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Catalog Number: 2017.050.01

As we enter the dog days of August, with its heat and humidity, our thoughts frequently turn to a favorite summer refreshment: ice cream.

Serving ice cream brings people together, makes friends of strangers and helps us forget our troubles for a few moments. Nearly everyone loves ice cream.

From the 1930s to the 1970s, the Dolly Madison Dairy of La Crosse made ice cream in many flavors and distributed it all over the area.

This package once held a half gallon of ice cream that was made and packaged by the local dairy about 1960. Round and made of cardboard, it is imprinted with a brown woodgrain background with the iconic red “Quality Chekd” symbol.

Located at Front and Main streets in downtown La Crosse, the Dolly Madison Dairy began in 1919 as the Tri-State Ice Cream Corp., a company formed from two earlier companies.

In 1939, the company’s name became Dolly Madison, in honor of President James Madison’s wife, Dolley, who was the first person to serve ice cream in the White House.

In 1944, Dolly Madison Dairy joined the Quality Chekd group, a cooperative of 26 Midwestern dairies that was organized to assist those companies as they competed against larger national brands of ice cream.

By 1964, Dolly Madison employed 90 workers who processed and provided home delivery of milk and other dairy products. The company shipped its line through much of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois and operated branches in Eau Claire and Reedsburg.

The company’s plant on Front Street remained active during the record flood of 1965, but shortly after that the operations were moved to Gateway Industrial Court.

The company soon became a part of Marigold Foods and later was absorbed by Kemp’s. Dolly Madison Dairy is last listed in the 1979 directory.

It’s August, and even though you can’t buy your favorite Dolly Madison flavor anymore, enjoy a scoop of this frozen treat.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on August 3, 2019.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

Trane Company Safety Glasses

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Amy Vach

Catalog Number: 1986.035.01

More than 300,000 employees each year are sent to the hospital due to eye injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And 90% of these injuries would have been preventable if the employee had been wearing protective eyewear.

These might look like ordinary glasses, but they are not.

While they look a bit different from today’s variety of safety glasses, that is indeed what they are.

These glasses used by Trane employee Marvin Bremer feature thick lenses that are almost circular and temple tips that contour around the wearer’s ear. The glasses, made by American Optical Company, are signified by the initials AO on the lenses.

In 1971, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created to circumvent accidents in the workplace. However, by the 1940s, most companies made safety glasses mandatory for employees working in woodworking and machining.

How do we know that these safety glasses were used by Bremer?

In 1986, Gene Gunderson, the supervisor of safety and health at Trane Company, donated these safety glasses to La Crosse County Historical Society.

In addition to donating the glasses and their metal case, Gunderson also donated the tool order slip and carbon copy that Bremer completed to check out the department-owned glasses.

The details on the receipt indicate that Bremer checked out these glasses the same year that he started working at Trane Company. In 1956, Marvin Bremer moved his family to La Crosse and began working at Trane. Bremer worked as a machinist in the tool and die department at Trane Company for 30 years.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on July 28, 2019.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

Pleasoning Shaker Bottle

Ken Brekke

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Catalog Number: 2019.023.01

The message on this shaker bottle suggests it contains “the flavor of a lifetime.”

Apparently, that message was accurate, because the Pleasoning brand of gourmet seasoning is still thriving, 67 years after the company was established in La Crosse.

Frank J. Italiano’s teaching career kept him busy during the week, but on weekends he experimented with blends of herbs and spices that were designed to be tasty while containing less sodium than table salt. He gave some of his spicy creations to his fellow teachers, “and they kept coming back for more,” according to the Pleasoning website. A business was born in 1952.

Italiano and his wife, Lenore, grew the Pleasoning business for many decades, with help from family members. He died in 2006, but worked the business until he was 83. Lenore retired from her Pleasoning responsibilities in 2007. Their daughter, Kathy, and her husband, Paul Boarman, currently own and operate the business, now called Pleasoning Gourmet Seasonings, at 2109 Ward Ave. They and their son, Dominic, are the company’s only employees.

The shaker was donated to the La Crosse County Historical Society by Frank and Lenore’s son, George, who also worked in the family business as a youngster. 

Its label, which bears a copyright date of 1956, claims Pleasoning is “famous for improving food flavors.”  It should be used “in place of all seasoning,” the label adds, along with a final bit of advice -- “Note: This is a true blend. Add salt if you like your food saltier.”

George says this shaker sold for 39 cents back in 1956. He remembers mixing some product and filling shakers along with other family members back when the business was just getting started. “Family always helped,” he explains. He also credits Kathy and Paul for greatly growing the business through Internet marketing.

Frank combined his musical expertise and chemistry background to create taste sensations, according to the company’s website, although it adds that “his Italian mother’s use of herbs and spices helped.”

Pleasoning products, which have grown to include 36 different blends, are now shipped all over the country. Pleasoning also follows America’s troops to military installations all over the world. The blends of herbs and spices, still low in sodium, are sold to the military, which in turn ships them to “where the troops are,” according to Paul. 

Some customers have been buying Pleasoning for 50 years or so, Paul reports.

The original Pleasoning blend still follows “exactly the same recipe” originally created by Frank, according to Paul. That recipe, by the way, is very much a secret.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on July 20, 2019.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.