Local farmers delivered milk daily to the condensing plant. They were paid according to the butterfat content of their milk, which was tested twice a month. The company paid a set price for each hundred pounds of four percent milk, with an additional five cents added for every tenth above that amount. For every tenth below four percent, payment dropped five cents. Since different breeds of dairy cows produce different quantities and qualities, most Ridgely farmers had mixed herds of Holsteins, Jerseys, and Guernseys.

The milk received at Breyers was cooled and piped into thirty thousand gallon stainless steel tanks. The plant had a huge stainless steel vacuum cylinder, called a pan. With the help of steam and vacuum, the milk was condensed to a twelve percent cream, then piped into a cold wall tank for holding. The cream was then siphoned into one hundred pound milk cans and then conveyed on rollers to the box cars, well iced down. The north bound train would carry the loaded box car to the home plant in Philadelphia, PA. There, flavoring was added, the cream was frozen and packaged, and was ready to be enjoyed!

According to Tommy Rampmeyer, who worked at the plant, every two weeks the home plant sent a box of miscut slices to the Ridgely facility as a treat. He says that many employee's had to skip dinner on those days after having enjoyed a little much... Can't blame them there!  

He says: "It was in 1945 when I was hired to work at Breyer's. There was a shortage of men because of World War 2. At that time Herbert Koeneman was the plant manager, and I was the first school boy hired at summer vacation time. When school started in September, I worked weekends and some nights during the week. My only job was to unload the tank trucks of milk. The next summer, Breyers hired more school boys, like my classmate Eddie Gallagher, then Clinton Guthrie, Bill Sculley, and Dave Walls. 

The starting pay was 27 cents an hour, which was far better than any other Ridgely businesses were paying during the war years. The company furnished white uniforms and caps, but we had to buy the rubber, steel-toed shoes. Each employee was allowed to take home two quarts of milk per working day.

After graduating from Ridgely High School, I continued to work at the milk plant until they closed the doors in 1962. This was a sad day for all the remaining workers, a loss to the farmers, and to the whole town of Ridgely."

Change and the current size and condition of Ridgely came with the general shift from railroad transportation to highways and trucks in the 1950s. As business and industry began to concentrate in larger urban areas, the factories and processing plants in Ridgely could no longer compete with larger and more modern facilities operated by regional and national corporations.

Today, Ridgely residents can enjoy farm-fresh ice cream at the Ridgely Pharmacy, Cafe, and Gift Shop on Belle Street. They serve many delicous flavors of Vanderwende's ice cream, handcrafted in Bridgeville, Delaware. ​

THE RIDGELY RAILS LEGACY SERIES follows three generations of women living in a small town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Beginning with the late 1800s and the turn of the century, then through World War 1 and World War 11, walk through history with Ella Mae, Sophie, and Gloria as they search to find their own identities and struggle to redefine the roles of women in society. 

Ella Mae longs to be a writer when only men are given that privilege. Her daughter, Sophie, joins Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party to fight for Women's Votes. And Gloria, Ella Mae's granddaughter, tosses convention out the window as she determines who she wants to be as a woman while the United States fights to defeat Hitler. Join these women as they face the conflicts of their generation, struggling to hold on to their faith and the men they love.