Message in a bottle: Lou McFadden's rare dairy collection to hit auction block in September
Years ago families didn’t go to the grocery store to purchase milk. Instead the store came to them, courtesy of the local milkman, who would place bottles of milk on the front porch or at the back door once or twice a week.
In addition there are some people who can recall their elementary days when it was glass bottles and not cartons that were the choice of container for their after-recess milk. Few things could top seeing that sweating ice cold bottle of chocolate or white milk sitting on the desk following a rugged half-hour of recess on a hot day.
Nostalgia, a love of the dairy industry and a hearkening back to older times were the reasons Lou McFadden started a milk bottle collection of the likes few have ever put together.
Lou McFadden passed away in November of 2013, but he left behind a lifelong passion for collecting milk bottles and other dairy memorabilia that grew into one of the largest collections in Ohio.
On Saturday, Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. in the Kaufman Auction Center in Sugarcreek, more than 400 of McFadden’s milk bottles and other assorted memorabilia will go up for auction with one of the most respected and beloved collector’s local pieces also to be sold. The list of bottles includes some rare and valuable editions from dairies all over Ohio, and auctioneer Cliff Sprang will showcase McFadden’s legacy through the auction.
“This is a one-of-a-kind auction,” said Sprang, who has known Lou McFadden and his wife Sue for a long time. “I know that sounds a little cliché, but I have known them forever, and for me to have an opportunity to bring this collection to auction means a great deal to me. I doubt I’ll ever have a chance to do anything like this again.”
What makes the McFadden collection so impressive, aside from the sheer number of items, is the incredible variety on display. Rows and rows of shelves in the McFadden showroom feature dairy bottles from all over Ohio. There are a huge number from local dairies that are cherished because of the local flavor, and many of those will be on the auction block.
Sue McFadden said while many collectors buy and sell, her husband was often approached about someone purchasing an item or two. His answer was always the same.
“He always told people, ‘I buy. I don’t sell,’” Sue McFadden said. “He loved collecting. He loved having people come down here in the basement to see his collection. It has been something special to us over the years, but it is at the point now where I felt like I wanted others to be able to enjoy this collection. I am happy that people who find the same joy in collecting will have the opportunity to find what they love.”
Sue McFadden said she doesn’t ever want the collection to disappear altogether. She wants to keep a large portion of the collection together, for now at least. And even letting go of many of the local bottles will be difficult for her.
“It is going to be a little tough,” Sue McFadden said. “Even though we have already gotten rid of some of them, it still looks really full down here. It’s been a big part of our lives together. And I can look at many of the bottles, and it brings back some cherished memories and the conversations we had with farmers or dairy owners all over Ohio.”
For more than four decades Lou McFadden was involved in the dairy industry. After serving in the United States Marines from 1956-58, he began his longstanding dairy career with the Orrville Milk Company, then Lawson Dairy, followed by Superior Dairy and finally Reiter Dairy. With that much time and energy invested in the dairy industry, it seems rather natural that he would become infatuated with all things dairy.
Years before he even met his wife Sue, a relative had given him a milk bottle, setting off a lifetime of collecting dairy memorabilia — milk bottles in particular — that became a hobby for him and then for both he and his wife after they were married.
Over the years the two collected more than 3,300 milk bottles, many of them fairly expensive, and as the McFadden collection grew in their basement, Lou McFadden had more and more custom-made shelving built to provide a perfect home for the expanding milk bottle collection.
It is a rare collection that is a part of Americana, a collection that the McFaddens put together over the years with painstaking love. Finding a piece to add to their collection became somewhat of an adventure.
“Lou used to go on quests,” Sue McFadden said of her husband. “His quest was always to find the quart, the pint, and the half-pint and gallon jars to put together the entire collection. He was so passionate about traveling all over the state to find milk bottles. Some of them had war bonds stamped on them, and others had nursery rhymes. There is such a neat variety in the collection.”
Sue McFadden said the collection that began with that one bottle grew to around 60 by the time they got married. Then they began traveling the state to bottle shows and auctions, where Lou McFadden would find exactly what he wanted to buy, sometimes for a bit more than he had hoped, but then again that is what makes a person passionate about their hobby.
Eventually Lou McFadden wrote a book about the many small Ohio dairies that dot the state. They would travel to dairies, take pictures and garner information about each dairy that went into the book. The book brought even more notoriety to the McFadden collection, and soon newspapers across Ohio were calling for interviews. The McFadden milk bottle collection had grown to grand popularity.
As the bottle collection grew, it became harder to find bottles that he didn’t already have, so Lou McFadden began branching out, adding ice cream cartons, ash trays, fly swatters, thermometers, calendars and other advertising products related to each dairy.
While it was his passion, the fact that he and his wife were able to travel together, share time and enjoy each other’s company made it a joy for her as well.
“It was weekends away and fun searching for dairies and finding elusive items,” Sue McFadden said. “And we met a lot of really wonderful people along the way.”
Sprang said he expects the auction to be widely attended by collectors and even people who are simply piqued because of the local flavor of the sale.
“We are going to concentrate on the local dairies at this auction,” Sprang said. “Holmes, Wayne, Tuscarawas, Stark, and Knox and Ashland counties, that is the local appeal that we wanted to present here. There are going to be a lot of really neat, really valuable bottles that collectors will really enjoy.”
Shelly Dairy in Wooster, Hartzler Dairy, Goshen Dairy, Maple Grove in Sugarcreek, Reiter Dairy, Ashland Sanitary Dairy and more local bottles will highlight a lifetime of collecting and a century and more of memories in an industry that is as much a part of Amish Country as any industry. And because of Lou McFadden’s passion for dairy, all of the bottles are in pristine shape with graphics that are easy to read, better yet, embossed.
It is a lifetime of collecting and memories that Sue McFadden said she will always cherish. With many of these small dairies no longer in existence, the collection becomes even more rare.
“Lou would have wanted to share his passion and his collection with others,” Sue McFadden said. “That someone else will find joy in these bottles would make him very happy.”