For 75 years, Houlton Farms Dairy has provided local residents with the freshest milk and dairy products a person could ask for.
Located at 25 Commonwealth Ave. since its inception, much has changed in the 75-year history of the dairy. What was once a small, operation of delivering milk to homes, has expanded into a major distributor of milk products for Aroostook County, as well as portions of Washington and Penobscot counties, according to Alice Lincoln, who along with her husband Leonard and their sons Eric and Jim are co-owners of the company.
Established in 1938 by Alan Clark, Houlton Farms Dairy was the first pasteurizing plant north of Bangor. Clark had a dream of delivering locally produced milk to homes in the greater Houlton area. In the beginning, six local dairy farmers agreed to provide Clark with all the milk their herds could produce and thus Houlton Farms Dairy was born.
In April 1977, Clark sold the business to Lambert. Four years later, on April 1, 1981, Alice and Leonard Lincoln purchased the dairy business from Lambert. The Lincolns expanded their business in 1983, opening a dairy bar in Presque Isle. A second shop opened in 1987 in Caribou and a year later Houlton got its own dairy bar. All three dairy bars are open on a seasonal basis, typically from April to September.
Mary Lincoln, Jim’s wife, is in charge of the daily operations of the company’s dairy bars. Today, the dairy has about 30 different flavors of hard ice cream, and 26 flavors of soft serve, with a variety of popular flavors.
Today, all of the milk needed is supplied by two farms — Lilley Farms of Smyrna and Cowperthwaite Farms in Littleton. Both are dedicated to producing quality milk and are located within 10 miles of the plant.
This is the only milk processing plant north of Portland. Besides milk, butter, and ice cream, the lemonade is a very popular item. People start calling in March to ask when the lemonade will be available. Houlton Farms Dairy currently staffs 15 full time and 45 seasonal employees who continue to provide quality dairy products to the County.
