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Tukwila's milk nourished generations
BY PAT BRODIN
AND LOUISE JONES-BROWN
TUKWILA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Duwamish River Valley was dotted
with many family dairies starting in the
late 1800s. Many of the homestead immi-
grants found rich soil in the river bottoms
that produced more hay per acre. John
Wesley Maple's Teetalk Dairy was listed in
the 1897 Polk directory as being located at
the mouth of the Duwamish River. Further
up river were dairies established by Archie
Codiga, Herman Anderson, James Nelsen
and his brother Charlie and James Nielsen
who established Riverview Farms which
was still running wholesale routes in 1990.
In 1922 Herman and Grace Anderson
moved from Skagit County to Tukwila
and started Hermway Dairy with 11 cows.
By 1929 the company had 12 retail milk
routes; by 1950 there were 30. The herd of
150 cows on 180 acres could not support
continued growth, and Anderson bought
milk from Consolidated Dairy Products
in Burlington. He hauled the milk 90 miles
to Tukwila early each morning. Anderson
kept innovating to increase business, for a
AT LEFT: The Golden Arrow Dairy was one of numerous dairies in the Tukwila that for decades in the 1900s sold milk
throughout the Seattle area; the dairy herds grazed on the Green River Valley - where Southcenter stands today - when
it was farmland. AT RIGHT: The dairy is still visible during construction of Interstate 405 in the mid 1960s The view is
northeast at Southcenter Boulevard and 65th Avenue South. Tukwila Historical Society
time selling kosher milk and ice cream.
Son Wynn recalls: "During World War
II, with gasoline shortages, dairies traded
business. One of the Golden Arrow routes
that traveled to Ballard traded equal quart -
age with another company whose route
came to Burien."
By 1948 the commercial value of the
land was drawing the attention of develop-
ers, the City of Tukwila began consider-
ing annexation of the area that included
the Golden Arrow Dairy property Cows
used to pass beneath the street through a
concrete structure to graze beyond where
Tukwila Parkway now runs. The old cattle
crossing existed under Southcenter Boule-
vard until street improvements were made
in the late 1980s.
The farmland had been sold to the An-
dover Co. and was later developed into
the Andover Industrial Park site near the
Southcenter retail area
(Excerpted from `Tukwila- Community
at the Crossroads" written by Dr. Kay Re-
CALEHDAR
• April 17: 7 p.m.,
monthly member-
ship meeting, Tuk-
wila Heritage and
Cultural Center,
14475 59th Ave. S.
• May 15: 7 p.m.,
monthly member-
ship meeting, Tuk-
wila Heritage and
Cultural Center,
14475 59th Ave. S.
• May 22-23: 7
p.m., Spring Theater
Production -Military
Road Play, Foster
High School,4242 S.
144th St.
inartz; Chapter 13 entitled "Dairy Farms,
Nurseries and Market -Garden Farms
Flourish in the Duwamish Valley")
Pat Brodin is past president of the Tuk-
wila Historical Society, which operates the
Tukwila Heritage and Cultural Center. Lou-
ise Jones -Brown is the center's interim direc-
tor. The center can be reached by phone at
206-244-HIST or via email at tukwilaher-
itagectr@tukwilahistory.org