Posted 8 years ago
Tjohnson209
(3 items)
This can is black metal it also has a brass plate with a name. Not sure why there's a train on it. I'm not sure how old this is or even when it was made. It show a 20 1/2 I'm guessing that's how much it holds. My neighbor found it for me at a garage sale today. I wanted one to make into a mail box but after she brought it over to me and I got to looking at it I can't seem to bring myself to change it in any way. Guess I will have to find another one for my project.
As you most probably know this can was owned by one Hattie West from McDonald, Kansas. With a bit of research I found out that Hattie Elizabeth West owned and managed a store called West Variety Store. She also canned a lot of food from her home garden. She was born on October 2nd 1902, she died Jun 3, 1987. This would date it around this time. it could have been used for a number of reasons, as she both owned a store and a had a home garden. If you want to get more information and want to read her obituary go here: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=78289025
Sure looks like a milk can to me!
Thanks BinaryReflex any idea about the train painted on the milk can
Trains commonly carried raw milk to where it needed to go for processing as it had to be delivered fast. It's a raw milk can from a dairy.
I can say this milk can has been around it's originally from Kansas but it has ended up here at my home in Texas.
A whole lot of these old milk cans were decorated after the use for them was gone. Maybe some may have even been painted while still being used. I doubt that the processors separated them & sent them back to the orig. farms/dairies. When I was growing up in the early days after the dinosaurs, my mother had a few that were decorated & she decorated some herself. An age past!