Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Utah's Winder Farms is getting back into the milkman business as SLC eyes upgrades to its Downtown Farmers Market.
Urban Living
Posted By Babs De Lay on May 28, 2025, 4:00 AM
When I was a child in New York, we got a weekly home delivery of fresh milk and cream. And here in Salt Lake, I show homes that still have a metal "Winder Dairy" box on their front porch for deliveries.
Winder Dairy—now known as Winder Farms—has been in Utah since 1880. The first Winder Farm was founded in 1863 at 2700 South and 300 East. It wasn't until a few years later that John and Elizabeth Winder began selling milk from their farm. They labeled their product "Rich Jersey Milk" from their Jersey cow herd, and locals went mad for it.
Initially, they made deliveries from horse-drawn vehicles before switching to a Model T truck. The truck's tires kept wearing out, so they returned to horses until the tire quality improved.
The farm moved southwest—to 4400 West and 4100 South—in 1931. They later sold the Jersey herd and began partnering with other local farms using Holstein cows. As time passed, the glass milk bottles were replaced with polycarbonate containers and in 2019, Winder Farms stopped home deliveries to focus mainly on selling dairy products in grocery stores and online.
Winder Farms is Utah's oldest continuously operating food and beverage company. It was sold to investors in 2011, but reacquired by another group headed by James Winder. This transition marks a significant milestone for the iconic brand, which has served generations of Utah families with fresh dairy and other products for 145 years.
Now that the family owns the company again, they reportedly plan to go back to Winder's roots of home deliveries and pickups for dairy products, including a new kind of chocolate milk.
Farmers around the world often rely on community markets to sell their wares, making extra cash by cutting out the middlemen. In Utah, we love our farmers markets, with the largest (Salt Lake City's Downtown Farmers Market) starting up again at Pioneer Park on June 7 after running a smaller winter edition at the Gateway.
Utah is home to over 45 farmers markets, and Salt Lake City is about to drop millions of dollars into Pioneer Park so as to build a permanent structure for the housing of a year-round market. The revitalization of the park will include not just a multi-purpose building, but maintained bathrooms, pickleball and basketball courts, more trees and a picnic pavilion.
Salt Lake City has budgeted $18 million for this new round of park enhancements. Pioneer Park, for those unaware, was where LDS settlers created the Old Pioneer Fort about a week after the first immigrants arrived in 1847. There were 450 log cabins and an adobe wall around the fort. But in 1898, the location was dedicated as one of five city parks at the time and the fort was no more.
About The Author
Babs De Lay
A full-time broker/owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, Babs De Lay serves on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission. A writer and golfer, you'll find them working as a staff guardian at the Temple at Burning Man each year.
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