Hey, it's been a long time since we served up any Archivey Goodness! Once upon a time, you could get a farm-fresh glass of milk at this vanished fairy-tale building in the heart of Prospect Park--and thereby hangs a tale of greed, death, and, ultimately, reform.
Brownstoner's tireless urban detective Montrose Morris has a fascinating entry on the now-forgotten "Milk Wars" that raged in this and other cities from the mid-19th Century on. The park's "Dairy" or "Dairy Cottage" (like its still-standing counterpart in Central Park) kept real cows on tap, offering an alternative to the vile, adulterated milk produced on the cheap by Brooklyn producers who fed their wretched, diseased cows a diet of discarded brewery mash. Children died en masse from the bad milk, and the fight for a pure, pasteurized and reliable milk supply was a huge issue for reformers (and, of course, mothers).
Here's a view of the Dairy in 1898. According to Prospect Park's archives:
Calvert Vaux designed the Dairy in 1869; the main structure of the building was completed in 1870. A stone building located in the Ravine, the Dairy took its name from the farm animals that grazed nearby and the fresh milk and other refreshments that were sold inside. "On the grassy slopes, bordering the Pools, which can be seen in this neighborhood, a number of cows, of choice breeds, graze in quiet and luxuriant ease, daily giving back a part of their rich food in the richer milk, which may be had at the Dairy Farm House. The park Commission invites the attention of Invalids, weakly persons, convalescents, and mothers of young children to the elevated ground east of the Long Meadow, near the Dairy." (1874)
The Dairy's status as a tourist magnet is confirmed by its appearance in packs of stereoscopic viewing cards--there are a couple for sale right now on Ebay, including this one. The wan tots here look like they could use some wholesome milk.
The Dairy stood in the Midwood, just north of Boulder Bridge, according to my guidebooks. It dispensed 11,000 quarts of fresh milk in the summer of 1871 alone, along with fresh foods including cold beef, ham and tongue sandwiches and pickled oysters. There were "retiring rooms" (rest rooms) with fireplaces, and nearby picnic tables. But the focus of picnicking moved across the Long Meadow in later years. The park's first "menagerie" opened nearby in 1890, and sadly, the Dairy was razed in 1935 when the new zoo opened on the other side of East Drive.
Thanks again to MM at Brownstoner for reviving the memory of the Milk Wars--a striking reminder that parents' concerns about what "factory farms" are turning out for our children's consumption are nothing new.