Then and Now: The Elmwood Farm milk wagon

Horse-drawn milk wagons survived long after the advent of the automobile. Conway Village had been hearing the hideous noises of steam- and gasoline-driven cars for seven or eight years when a photographer stopped the Elmwood Farm wagon during its daily rounds on Main Street, in front of the Kennett Co. garage. In the photo, Arthur Jackson, standing at left, was working as a hired hand for John E. Potter, owner of Elmwood Farm, and delivering milk all over Conway was his primary function. He had to be up early to satisfy the kitchen wants of housewives and hotels all around the village.

Elmwood Farm was the old Hill family farm on the West Side. Leavitt Hill settled it in the 18th century. After a devastating fire that destroyed everything but a gigantic elm in the front yard a descendant rebuilt it, catering particularly to the meat and dairy needs of the Conway House and its competitor, the Pequawket House. John E. Potter came to town from his father’s South Conway farm in 1904 and bought Elmwood Farm and its eponymous tree from Sumner Hill.