Category:Lehigh Valley Dairy, Allentown, Pennsylvania

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English: The Lehigh Valley Dairy was established in August 1934. Created in the depths of the Great Depression by the Lehigh Valley Cooperative Farmers by renovating a silk mill. By 1944, 820 farmers had joined and the plant had increased production from 3,400 of milk to 148,000 pounds. In 1947, the facility was expanded to a 321,000 square-foot milti-story plant and over 19 acres of land consisting of a complex of buildings. 1952, the dairy was featured in a series of local photos as one of the leading industries of the region. Along with milk, it turned out cheese and ice cream.

In 1969, milk production was switched from the Allentown facility to a new facility in Landsdale, with the Allentown dairy producing ice cream, cottage cheese, sour cream and condensed milk. The dairy remained profitable into the early 1970s until it was discovered that financial corruption began financial losses, the firing of its president and negative attention to the business. From 1974 to 1977, the Lehigh Valley dairy reported losses of $5 million. In 1980, the stockholders voted to dissolve the Lehigh Valley Cooperative and sell its assets to a new company named Atlantic Processing. In 1984, a 200,000 square foot facility in the back of the facility was sold to Beatrice Cheese, which operated a production plant separate from dairy. By 1985, the dairy had assets that exceeded $200 million and was employing 950 workers. Johanna Farms purchased Atlantic the following year and changed its name to Lehigh Valley Dairies. By then Johanna had been purchased by John Labatt Ltd, the Canadian brewer. Bob Daily, a shop steward at the Lehigh Valley Dairies was later to say that Labatt did not repair the equipment. “We began losing contracts,” he recalled.

By January 1989, the end had arrived and the Allentown plant was closed on January 27th. The vast majority of the 200 workers at the plant were laid off, the last 50 were transferred to the Landsdale facility at the end of March and the doors were locked on April 7, 1989. The Dairy was put up for sale in May, and most of it's internal equipment was dismantled and sold off.

The cheese factory become part of ConAgra of Omaha, Nebraska in 1990. Under ConAgra, the plant specialized in mozzarella and provolone cheeses. In 2002, it was sold to Saputo of Montreal, Quebec. At the time of purchasing the plant in 2002, Saputo Vice President of Communications Claude Pinard called it "a good opportunity for us because it's a good deal, it annually produces 30 million pounds of cheese and it can be integrated into our U.S. operations." However, in October 2005, the cheese factory was closed with the loss of 115 worker jobs. It was bought in March 2008 by Protica, a vitamin company who also makes protein drink products for the health, sports nutrition and medical fields, who uses it currently as a manufacturing and distribution facility.

The complex of buildings of the former dairy was subdivided in the 1990s, with parts of it being rented to various companies. Several businesses have used parts of the dairy over the years, and currently, a small part of the complex is used by a local courier service, the remainder is empty. Part of the dairy south of the main entrance was torn down, with the main entrance and office area never finding a buyer and over the past 30 years has slowly deteriorated.

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