In the 1930’s and 1940’s, DeKalb County was dairy country. During the Great Depression, many families began dairy farming to help get through hard times. The other thing some farmers turned to was moonshining.
At one point, there were one hundred fifty dairies in DeKalb County. The 1939 map (which I have shared in previous blog posts) in the book A Century in North DeKalb: The Story of the First Baptist Church of Chamblee 1875-1975 shows thirty-three dairies in the North DeKalb area including the Wright Dairy.
Wright Dairy was located along Briarwood Road, between today’s North Druid Hills Road and Buford Highway. This history is available in the writings of Mrs. Willig of Brookhaven, in the archives at DeKalb History Center. The history includes profiles of a few early residents and history of the Brookhaven/North Atlanta Planning Council which was active in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Willig describes the location of Wright Dairy as where Arvilla Apartments were located in the 1970’s. She spoke with Paul and Winnie Wright to find out more about Wright Dairy. Paul Wright was born in a house on Clairmont Road in 1908. His parents, Daniel M. and Neely Wright, later moved to property on what is now Briarwood Road where they farmed and started the dairy. According to the 1930 and 1940 census records, Paul is working on the family dairy farm.
The Wright family started out with about twelve cows, growing that number over the years to twenty-six. Everyone in the family helped run the dairy, which meant working seven days a week. All the milking was done by hand.
Paul Wright recalled getting up at 4:00 a.m. to wash and milk the cows. A sterilizer was used, which was able to hold twenty cases of bottles at one time. Each case had twelve bottles. The sterilizer was heated from a wood boiler, because there was no electricity. Then, the milk was placed in ice boxes. One hundred pounds of ice was delivered every day for cooling the milk.
In the early days, they used a wagon and mule to deliver the milk. Tuesdays and Saturdays were delivery days, which included a handful of Brookhaven homes, but mostly Atlanta homes. In Brookhaven, the early customers of Wright Dairy were the Stokes and Wehunt families. As Paul Wright put it, “90% of the families had their own cow,” so not many people nearby needed the service.
Payments were made in cash, with the Wright family members going door to door to collect for their milk delivery.
The Wright Dairy business operated during World War I and the beginning of World War II. During World War II, there was a shortage of gasoline, as well as cars and trucks. Due to the problems these shortages caused and Paul’s brother joining the military the dairy business was shut down. He recalled that milk was 15 cents a quart in those days.
Paul Wright’s brother Daniel went overseas as part of the 4th Marine Division. He died at Tinian Island in the Pacific in July of 1944.
After the family closed the dairy business, Paul Wright worked at Lawson General Hospital from 1942 until 1947. He delivered Atlanta Journal newspapers in the Brookhaven area for many years after that.
Wright Dairy was a family business, relying on each family member to help get the job done. It is the story of many small dairies throughout DeKalb County in the 1930’s and 1940’s.