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Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: lordfairfax ()
Date: December 10, 2010 08:33AM

Anybody remember Thompson's Dairy Products?

I was ruminating in another thread about how, in Vienna in the mid-60's, we used to receive both the Washington Post and the Evening Star daily. And we used to have a silver metal box on the front porch, in which Tompson's would place milk, butter, cream and anything else my mom ordered via a list left in the box.

Sometime in the mid-60's, Thompson's ran a contest, First prize was a puppy and you had to write in and say why you deserved to win. I must have been 8 or 9 at the time and badly wanted a dog so I sent in my best deserving essay. I ended up winning second 2nd prize, which was 32 Thompson's Dairy products. I was absolutely crushed and couldn't think of a more useless win. My parents were delighted.

I don't recall exactly when Thompson's discontinued home delivery, but I'm sure by 1970 or so the little silver box was gone. Ah, the good old days!

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: got milk ()
Date: December 10, 2010 08:38AM

Glass bottles with a little pulltab of cardboard. Remember them well.

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Border Security is CHEAPER Than Wars
Posted by: WingNut ()
Date: December 10, 2010 08:42AM

file.php?40,file=192503,filename=obama-d


idontlikebeingrightaboutshitlikethisbutiam



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 5/31/1967 05:57AM by WingNut.

Last edit at 11/30/2015 01:37PM Last edit at 5/14/2015 03:52PM Last edit at 1/28/2014 05:57AM Last edit at 11/29/2015 01:10PM Last edit at 3/14/2011 11:52PM Last edit at 7/20/2012 04:07AM
Last edit at 6/29/2013 11:18PM Last edit at 3/19/2011 01:02PM Last edit at 3/26/2012 09:07PM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2015 11:01PM by WingNut.


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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: 6X ()
Date: December 10, 2010 03:55PM

I still have one or two. Not in as good shape as the one in photo.
Attachments:
thompson box.jpg

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: got milk ()
Date: December 10, 2010 04:28PM

2834896893_c777891f28.jpg

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Bob Drake ()
Date: April 10, 2011 07:54PM

I am trying to find a picture of a Thompson Dairy logo. I am decorating one of the Divco trucks that were used to deliver milk. They had those rounded front ends and the drivers stood up to drive them a lot.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: SoylentGreen ()
Date: April 10, 2011 08:23PM

One of their terminals is under the first phase of the Mosiac District in Merrifield. It was used by several companies including U-Haul after Thompson's closed.

The "honor" boxes are selling for at least $50 a piece these days.

Is that a real truck or are you talking a scale model?

The Detriot Industrial Vehicle Company trucks are selling for between $15 and $25K these days.

(My dad drove for their competitor, Sealtest)

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: wally pip ()
Date: April 10, 2011 09:18PM

Remember Crass soda pop

damn that stuff was better than rock creek
cocoa cola bought them out and shut them down

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: One-Way ()
Date: April 11, 2011 05:57AM

You can still get home delivery of milk and other dairy products in some parts of Fairfax. South mountain Creamery has the best milk. Their site is www.southmounyaincreamery.com.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: JFC ()
Date: April 11, 2011 10:26AM

Talk about about a blast from the past. One of my little league baseball coaches used to work for Thompson's Dairy.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: GMU Hokie ()
Date: April 11, 2011 02:52PM

Somehow the Thompson family was connected to the Rose Hill farm off Franconia Road. Last I heard, the barn was used as a pool clubhouse and converted to a day care center. Try www.historicaerials.com using Rose Hill Elementary as a base point.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Marie ()
Date: August 04, 2011 01:10PM

I was born in 1960 and I remember the metal box outside our apartment door in Silver Spring. wow, talk about nostalgia! We used to sit on the box and fight over who would sit on it.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Date: December 13, 2011 12:16PM

hello i remember Thomson oh so well , i lived on a dairy farm in woodbridge where all the pastures were leased by thomsons they bottled it rite here i was 5 when they closed the farm here in 58 but i remember watching on the cows getting milked and going into the big shinie tank . there pork farm was about 1 mile south on rt1 but the dairy was on left as soon as you crossed the coming into woodbridge and to this day there are still 5 of the orginel 12 homes of the workers that worked the farm . my grand parents were one of the families at midnite evry other nite the trian would stop at the train station in front of our house and they'd pump the tank of milk into a milk car and off it went to there prosseing plant in Md. it's one of my fondest meories of growing up on the farm !

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: need more woodbridge stuff ()
Date: December 13, 2011 06:20PM

Carlton:

Good stuff...are you talking about the houses on the left on Rt 1 as you are heading south, that are between Rt 1 and the Railroad tracks? There were also some nice houses accross Rt 1 from there, nice 2 story red brick ones, that were torn down in the past 5 years or so. As I recall, Hillbilly Haven was up Rt just a little, past where Rt 1 passes under the railroad bridge.

I also remember a driving range there on the other side, where a small office park is.

What other memories do you have of the area...motels, drive in theathers, etc...

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Pine Street ()
Date: December 13, 2011 07:06PM

Remember similar silver box at our home in Herndon in the late 60's. Believe, our silver milk box had a cardinal(bird) sitting on a branch, printed on the front side. Was there a Cardinal Dairy/delivery back then?

That silver box used to support youthful weight. We'd slide it over the corner of a porch for just enough height to climb up on the roof. Big Deal to little guys and great memories!

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: G Mathews ()
Date: February 23, 2012 02:45PM

got milk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Glass bottles with a little pulltab of cardboard.
> Remember them well.

My father was a 'milkman' for Thompson's Dairy in the late 60's, early 70's. For a short period of time he worked the lucrative Constitution Avenue route in Washington, D.C.; lots of wealthy families who were generous tippers. Would love to get my hands on a milk bottle and front porch box...

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: chriswells ()
Date: February 27, 2012 01:41AM

got milk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Glass bottles with a little pulltab of cardboard.
> Remember them well.

As a child I spend many a summer day riding on the milk truck with the driver named Mason as he made deliveries in our neighborhood. As I remember their was a union strike and the Thompson family closed the business rather than conceding to the union demand. It was said that Thompson thought they were one big happy family and the strike broke his heart.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: me again ()
Date: February 27, 2012 01:43AM

typo their was // there was

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Diana ()
Date: May 18, 2013 04:42PM

My father worked for Thompson Honor Dairy since the end of World War II until the time the Union drove the company out of business. It had been a good company. My father was a wonderful man who was a great judge of character. He liked the management there. But there was a union which he was forced to be a member of, and that union forced a strike which most employees did not want. The wage demands on the Thompson Dairy owners were too great, and they were forced to close the business in 1971. At age 54, after working most of his adult life for this company, my father was forced to find new employment. He was never able to find a company which equaled that one. The Union ruined his career, and the careers of the other hundreds of employees. My father's life was severely harmed. The Dairy customers lost a wonderful source of home delivered products. And the business owners were crushed. Yet another example of Union thuggery.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: zero_personality ()
Date: May 18, 2013 05:20PM

On the underside of the Thompson's milk box lid was a layer of insulation and the embossed slogan, "The man who made this box never saw it". As little kids this confused us until we were told that the boxes were manufactured by the blind. Back in those days anyone with a disability was "hidden away" from mainstream life. Mom always ordered 2 quarts of milk but on special occasion would take a pint of cream and boy was that a treat on the Corn Flakes! Happy Days!

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Half Pint 4lyfe ()
Date: May 18, 2013 07:35PM

One of the years that I played in Falls Church Kiwanis Western American Little league (KWALL), when I was 8 or 9, I was on the Thompson Honor Dairy "Half Pints".

Falls Church Little League is still sponsored by Kiwanis Club, 45 years down the road. Wish Thompson Honor Dairy was still operating...

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: old ()
Date: May 19, 2013 10:28AM

Blame unions as Rush instructs you to, but it was simply that Thompson's Honor Dairy's time had passed.

There is no honor anymore. People are all lying, cheating, and stealing motherfuckers nowadays. You cannot have anything based on honor anymore because there is none.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Pooper ()
Date: May 19, 2013 11:10AM

That stuff gave me the shits.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: wayne metts ()
Date: March 13, 2014 04:01PM

I was on the Thompsons dairy half pints team too.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Bettie ()
Date: March 13, 2014 07:26PM

The Thompson family (the son of the dairy farmer) is still in Vienna and I believe live in one of the orinpginal farmhouses, although their house is surrounded by "newer" development.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Charlie H. ()
Date: April 30, 2014 01:32PM

I to worked at thompson,s about that time on a route in d.c. Then in va. And yes all that you said is true and it was very sad indeed

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Enrico 2 lazy ()
Date: April 30, 2014 01:45PM

What was the death blow to milk doorstep delivery? I guess, why was milk delivered in the 1st place?

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Priapus ()
Date: April 30, 2014 02:03PM

Enrico 2 lazy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What was the death blow to milk doorstep delivery?
> I guess, why was milk delivered in the 1st place?


I don't know why delivery stopped but there were a lot of delivery services back in the day. Diaper services, mail twice a day, milk, for examples

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: HYd3N ()
Date: May 01, 2014 07:53PM

cullet ?

naw, they're nice
Attachments:
img2.jpg

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: pFcLn ()
Date: May 01, 2014 07:54PM

.
Attachments:
img.jpg

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Milkman ()
Date: May 15, 2014 08:56PM

I think we still have one if their milk boxes in the basement.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Tequilachick ()
Date: May 16, 2014 11:39PM

Haha, funny. I know about Thompson's milk makers.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: I get jokes ()
Date: May 18, 2014 08:09PM

Ha, I get jokes

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Dean Gontz ()
Date: July 19, 2014 04:08PM

6X Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I still have one or two. Not in as good shape as
> the one in photo.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Jsmith3 ()
Date: July 26, 2014 11:08AM

Does anyone have an extra Thompson's Milk Box they would like to sell? I'd love to have one!

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: stacey s ()
Date: August 29, 2014 08:17PM

Can anyone tell me what "fling" is on the underside of the lid?

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: honor dairy ()
Date: August 30, 2014 08:59AM

...by "fling" do you mean "words"?

Embossed into the insulation under the lid of a Thompson's Honor Dairy milkbox...

The Man Who Made This Box Never Saw It

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: dave demartinis ()
Date: November 03, 2014 02:14AM

I remember those silver boxes well! They bring back many childhood memories. Would you be willing to sell one to me
.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: dave demartinis ()
Date: November 03, 2014 02:21AM

I remember those silver boxes well! Would you be willing to sell one?

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Union Rep ()
Date: November 03, 2014 12:39PM

I collect mementos from the evil, greedy businesses that we've killed, and have two of their boxes. I'll let each go for $1500.00

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Shelly Thompson ()
Date: November 01, 2015 03:34PM

Doing some research...the Last Thompson is still alive and kicking at 84 years old. Are you all talking about the dairy in Ohio? , closed in the mid 50"s? Im his daughter

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Shelly ()
Date: November 01, 2015 03:36PM

must have quite a collection...

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Kerry Galloway ()
Date: May 28, 2016 06:44PM

Thompson's Festival ice cream was the best.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: FreeShippingBack ()
Date: June 02, 2016 07:56PM

As I recall, a great many of those Thompson Dairy milk boxes met their demise at the hands of teenagers armed with M-80's and Cherry Bombs. I guess those kids would be branded domestic terrorist's these days.

Occasionally I wander around in what little wooded areas still exist in Fairfax county and have collected a number of unbroken milk bottles embossed with the names of old dairies that must have existed locally back in 1940's or 50's.

There are still old treasures to be found out there if you get off trail and root around in the leaves. No metal detector required.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: Oncologist ()
Date: June 03, 2016 06:45AM

Unions are a cancer. Better they shut down the business than let it suffer a slow, painful, union-infected death.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: harmel ()
Date: June 03, 2016 08:02AM

On the hottest summer days I would help myself to a chunk of the blocked ice in my neighbors box. It was the most refreshing ice I ever tasted.

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: jm4eu ()
Date: June 04, 2016 12:13PM

jm4eu

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: James Hill ()
Date: January 18, 2017 09:39PM

I believe we are talking about Thompson Honor Dairy in 3ash8ngton, DC

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Re: Thompson's Dairy Products
Posted by: James Hill ()
Date: January 18, 2017 09:43PM

My father worked as a milkman in the early 2950'stages for Thompson Honor Dairy
Twenty years later I met and marriedo Susan Gemberling. Her father, Ed Gemberling, was my dad'said boss at the dairy in 1950.

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