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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Home delivery in Toronto, by horse, by truck   List Herb Kingston Next     The home delivery business of days gone by . . .   By Herb Kingston There was a time in the not-so-distant past when milk, bread, eggs, meat, coal, ice and other household necessities were all delivered "right to your front door" in Toronto.   Many companies emerged in the late 19th century and all of them competed for the business of the housewife. To accomplish their sales goals, thousands of horse and wagon teams were employed. Wagon building companies, such as Robert Elder and H.B. McGuiness, flourished by selling custom delivery vehicles for use in Toronto as well as its rural areas.   Decades had passed since the beginning of home delivery when the invention of the automobile threatened to push all the horses from the streets. World War II quickly brought the horse back into use when new motor vehicles were no longer available to the public due to government enforced rationing.   After the war, companies such as GM and Ford produced trucks that catered to every form of home delivery. A company called Divco surpassed them all by merging the design of early delivery wagons to produce their truck called the Divco Twin. The Divco Twin was praised by drivers and company executives alike for their efficient and durable service.   By the 1950s, more and more consumers were able to buy their own cars and "one-stop-shopping" plazas became the favoured place to buy produce. Because of this, home delivery of food products all but disappeared by the 1970s.   Only recently have home delivery services made a comeback through the computer and the invention of the Internet's world wide web. Unlike specialized companies of the past, these new services cater not to just one, but a variety of household needs of today's customer. Although it may seem to a modern consumer that the Internet provides a more efficient service than available in the past, many people still long for the simpler times, when the friendly drivers of the horse and wagon or the old Divco truck delivered all the goods.   "Milkman, keep those bottles quiet!” In 1935, Toronto's City Hall council tried to ban night delivery of milk, but the by-law did not pass. So, at 3 a.m. you could still hear the clip-clop of old Nellie the milkman's horse, the steel wheels of her wagon and the rattling of milk bottles in the milkman's eight quart basket.   Every once in a while on a hot summer night, when the windows were open to let in the breeze, a voice would yell, "Milkman, keep those bottles quiet."   It wasn't until September of 1954 that the City passed a noise by-law which prevented milk delivery from starting before 7 a.m. Finally, my father got to work in the daylight after 30 years of being a driver at Blantyre Dairy. Electric delivery from across the pond Here's another blast from the past: 1956 was the year and Paulger’s Blantyre Dairy on Queen Street in east Toronto was the place. Times were changin’. The Paulger brothers bought their first Smith Electric truck from England.   This was the start of a big adjustment for the older drivers. Some never drove anything but a horse and didn't even have a driver's license. At this time my dad, Huck Kingston, was a route builder in suburban Scarborough. He had hated the switch from horses to Divcos many years before, as he knew it wouldn't be an easy task to say goodbye to his horse.   Dad helped train many a man to drive Divcos and the electric trucks. Between 1956 and 1959, 30 electric trucks were added to Paulger’s fleet. In the stable, horses were replaced by electric chargers.   Now, let's talk about the electric truck, which were great to work out of. You could drive them standing, or sitting down. Of course we all know real milkmen never sit down to drive. I used to get a lot of the old boys going with that line.   The electrics were good for about a 20 mile round trip. Speed was 18 to 20 mph, slower on hills and when loaded. Now remember, this is Canada and winter in the ‘50s was colder than my ex-girlfriend's heart. That's cold. For heat, there was a five-gallon can with one side cut out with a torch and it was bolted in the left corner under the driver's window. This is where the driver sat his little Coleman stove that held about 16 ounces of stove oil. For a defroster, on top of the five-gallon can was a flap, also cut by torch, and put on a hinge. That was the defroster. Your breath would freeze on the windows and to see, you had a rubber alcohol bottle that you would squeeze onto the glass to clear it.   I remember one Saturday night around 7 p.m. when my best friend, George Gill, and I were heading back to the dairy along Queen Street. George told me to turn the lights off since we were running low on juice. So, I turned off the lights and we made it back to the dairy going about three miles per hour.   We can't turn back the clock - but we can still enjoy the memories.   Photo 1 - Toronto, September 1953: Horses, wagons and trucks from Borden's Dairy on Spadina line up to be loaded after a milk strike Photo 2 - One of a fleet of 30 Smith's Electric Trucks with Paulger's Blantyre Dairy on Queen Street East.   Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2011 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster