Crescent Creamery Dairy on the Pathway to turn 100

Crescent Creamery Dairy’s path toward reaching its 100th year is traced through decades of dairy farming and ownership transitions in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The account begins with a childhood reading experience in 1962, when the author entered Cornell University’s pre-vet program, noting that admission required at least two summers of dairy farm work. The first of three such jobs began in 1960 at Westenhok Farm on William Street, a property tied to the founding history of Crescent Creamery Dairy. During World War II, labor shortages, gasoline rationing, and new pasteurization requirements pressured operations, forcing the owner’s wife, Lena, to auction off a herd of 60 Guernsey cows and equipment. In June 1945, John J. O’Brien bought the 60-acre portion for $18,000, returning the site to productive Guernsey dairy farming under Dwight “Whitey” Merrell. The article also recounts earlier connections between Westenhok’s Guernsey milk and Crescent Creamery from 1939 to 1942.