FORTY-SHCOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 91 



Dairy herds were rapidly increasing and the co-operative 

 system was soon inaugurated. Instead of looking for a pur- 

 chase, the purchaser came to the manufacturer. The Elgin 

 Board of Trade was- established in 1872, where purchaser could 

 meet on middle ground. 



Following the introduction of the filled cheese, which was 

 an attempt to make larger profits on this much sought after 

 product, the dealer soon began to complain, and there was no 

 longer the great demand for Illinois cheese. The reputation of 

 Illinois cheese was gone. It was useless to try to regain it. In 

 1865 Illinois had 17 cheese factories, which had increased to 

 46 in 1870. By 1890 many factories were engaged in the man- 

 ufacture of filled cheese. This industry increased rapidly until 

 about 1896 when a law was passed prohibiting filled cheese. 

 Within a few months Illinois dropped almost to the bottom as a 

 cheese producing state. Today there are only about fifteen fac- 

 tories making cheese. 



Following closely on the fall of the cheese industry we 

 read of the development of the creamery industry which in the 

 main is familiar to most of you. 



About 1870 the matter of establishing a creamery in Elgin 

 began to be discussed, and it was Dr. Joseph Tefft of Elgin who 

 was instrumental in establishing the first butter factory west of 

 the lakes. It was here, in a factory superintended by J. H. Wan- 

 zer, with the help of some of the stockholders' wives, that the 

 first creamery butter west of the lakes was made. The second 

 season this factory made 80,000 pounds of butter. For a time 

 man}^ factories made both butter and cheese, and even now we 

 find scattered over the state creameries which were originally 

 designed for the dual purpose of manufacturing both cheese 

 and butter. 



The second creamery was probably that of I. A. Bois of 

 Marengo. Thus the industry was developed until in 1883 there 

 were about 400 factories. In 1885 one of the first creameries 

 opened in southern Illinois at Sparta. From this time on the in- 

 dustry grew rapidly until 1898 at which time there were over 

 500 factories in Illinois. The accompanying map gives a pret- 



