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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: Fairmont Creamery’s Spokane plant

1927: Fairmont Creamery manufactured butter and other dairy products in Spokane for more than 20 years. The leased building was one of several cold storage warehouses built along the railroad tracks on the east end of downtown to hold perishable foods and make ice. The refrigeration equipment was taken out in the mid-1960s when Sylvan Dreifus turned the building into a warehouse for Sylvan Furniture. (Libby Collection/The Eastern Washington Historical Society)
1927: Fairmont Creamery manufactured butter and other dairy products in Spokane for more than 20 years. The leased building was one of several cold storage warehouses built along the railroad tracks on the east end of downtown to hold perishable foods and make ice. The refrigeration equipment was taken out in the mid-1960s when Sylvan Dreifus turned the building into a warehouse for Sylvan Furniture. (Libby Collection/The Eastern Washington Historical Society)
By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com(509) 459-5378

Fairmont Creamery was founded in Fairmont, Nebraska, in 1884. Farmers brought their milk to the plant to be separated and sold the butter fat, then took the skimmed milk home to feed hogs. Before refrigeration, milk didn’t last long. Fairmont began a series of groundbreaking innovations that changed dairying forever.

The company sold separators to farmers on contract so they could separate the fat at home, then take it to a “station” nearby to be sold, saving time for the creamery. In 1889, Fairmont made 410,000 pounds of butter. The company packed the 1-pound “Better Butter” in four paper-wrapped sticks, a practice common today.

With innovative processes and shipping techniques in place, the company began building plants around the nation. Fairmont moved into Spokane in 1912. The company leased most of the space inside the North West Cold Storage building on West Pacific Avenue and began buying local milk and making butter and other products.

In 1926, Spokane’s plant turned out more than 7 million pounds of butter. “In Washington, Spokane occupies a position similar to the position Portland has in Oregon – that of being the greatest butter producing city in the state,” said G.L. Ainsworth, manager of Fairmont Creamery in Spokane. “While Seattle is situated in the center of a dairy district, much of the milk shipped into that city is used in making malted milk and condensed milk.”

As refrigeration improved in railroad cars and trucks, butter could safely be shipped farther distances at less cost – perhaps signaling the end of the company’s need for a Spokane plant. Clifford Manley, another Fairmont manager, said his plant was shipping butter as far as Boston with no problems. By the mid-1930s, Fairmont had closed in Spokane and consolidated elsewhere.

Fairmont, which also specialized in eggs, poultry, and frozen fruits and vegetables, became Fairmont Foods in 1947 and continued expanding its line of snack foods and soft drinks. It purchased the chain of Utotem convenience stores, and the whole company took that name. Under new corporate ownership, the company was sold to the Circle K Corp. in 1983.

The former Fairmont Creamery space in Spokane was leased to other food producers and shippers until the 1960s. Sylvan Dreifus bought the building and used it as a warehouse for Sylvan Furniture. In 2013, the building was purchased and updated by developer Jerry Neeser.

– Jesse Tinsley