Wild Rose Dairy
Like many dairy farmers in Johnson County, George Brink began dairying with a few cows and little experience. He was raised in Kansas City, Missouri, at a time when everyone kept a cow. George’s father, John, ran a tin shop in Kansas City and the family lived at 2512 Walnut, near present-day Crown Center.
In 1909, at age eighteen, George left Kansas City and moved to a farm at 50th and Belinder. In 1934, seeking to expand his operation, he moved to another farm at 65th and Mission Road, known as the Coppock Farm. Here, he established Wild Rose Dairy.
Like most dairy farmers, George Brink hired milkers and canners to process the milk. Milking began between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m. every day and continued until the delivery truck left for Kansas City at 6:30 a.m. Family members also milked cows, helped with delivery, or worked in the can house, cleaning bottles or canning the cooled milk. Milk was delivered every day of the year, despite the weather. Dairy farmers also bought and sold milk among one another to fill their customers’ orders.
The Brinks leased the Coppock Farm from the Schutte Lumber Company. The company had acquired the farm in 1907 and used the property to pasture their work horses. The Brinks ran their dairy and lived in a large Victorian home on the property until 1943, when George retired from dairy farming. Wild Rose Dairy was among the seventy-five dairies that either closed or were sold between 1943 and 1944. The J.C. Nichols Company acquired the property and built Homestead County Club and residential neighborhoods on the former one thousand-acre farm.
--ALBUM vol. 8, no. 4 (fall 1995)