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Southwest Life Health And the West is History Community Travel

And the West is History: Dairy-men at Work – 1908

In the early 1900s, many men wore a coat and tie to work, even men delivering milk. Here, Frank Connor, right, stands alongside a helper and his delivery wagon at the south end of either East Third or Fourth Avenues, with Smelter Mountain in the background. Connor came with his parents to Durango as a 2-year-old in 1892. By 1899, the elder Connor was in the dairy business, operating the Smelter City Dairy in Durango. Longtime Animas City residents, the Connors closed the Smelter City Dairy in 1917 and opened the Connor Dairy at 3072 East Fourth Ave. in Animas City shortly thereafter. Frank, his wife, Catherine, and son Mike ran the dairy. Catherine and Mike took over when Frank died of pneumonia at age 46 in 1936. They moved the dairy to 2717 Main Ave. (about where Starbucks is now located) and finally sold it to Harry Uhl in 1951, ending the over 50-year Connor family involvement in the dairy business. – Ed Horvat for Animas Museum, edhorvat@animasmuseum.org (Catalog Number: 99.15.2 from the La Plata County Historical Society Photo Collections)