In 1910 Peter Pallesen was employed as Manager of the Provincial Government Cold Storage and Creamery. His residence and the government plant were both located at Brewery Flats (East Calgary). The Carlyle Dairy was in operation at this time.
The 1911 Calgary Henderson’s Directory lists the Cold Storage & Creamery plant but shows no manager for it. P. Pallesen is not listed in the directory.
The Co-operative Dairy is listed with the names of Stanley Jones & Edgar H. Morton (no titles). The dairy’s address is 125 – 14 Ave W., also noted as the residences of Jones & Morton. There is no separate listing or address for Jones or Morton.
In 1912 the Calgary Central Creamery appears in the directory with P. Pallesen as proprietor. The creamery plant is at 602 – 11th Ave W.
In this year, George A. Drake and W.J. Derby are listed with Co-operative Dairy. Messers. Jones and Stanley have moved on. Hays Dairy is first listed this year with Hay & Sons, proprietors. Laycock Dairy is also listed with Messers Joseph & William W. Laycock. The Hays Dairy is at 336 – 14 St. N.W. and the Laycock operation is at 1111 – 1st Ave N.E.
The operations described above continued through 1913 & 1914. However, Pallesen Dairy is listed with William Smith as manager: plant address, 602 (rear) 11 Avenue West.
The Pallesen Dairy and the Calgary Central Creamery are both listed in the 1914 directory classified.
The same dairies are extant in 1915. Palleson Dairy is listed. It should be noted that Drake & Derby continued to be listed with Co-operative Dairy. There is no reference to there being a Drake Dairy or a Derby Dairy. In 1915 Co-operative Dairy moved to 233 – 27 Ave. E. (Erlton).
There are no listings for the Pallesen Dairy in the 1916 or 1917 directories. Events will show however that Peter Pallesen continued its operation in parallel to his Calgary Central Creamery.
The Union Milk Co. Ltd was established effective March 1, 1918 by the amalgamation of the four largest dairy companies in Calgary, i.e.: Carlyle Dairy Co., P. Pallesen Dairy, Hays & Co. Ltd., and the Co-operative Dairy. The new firm had T.M. Carlyle as managing director and P. Pallesen, G.A. Drake and Dr. T.E. Hays as directors. The plan was to deal with all the milk at the Carlyle plant and the butter at the Pallesen plant. The directories show that by 1919 the buildings used by the Co-operative Dairy, the Hays Dairy and the Laycock Dairy were all vacant. It should be noted that the milk route (customers list) for the Laycock Dairy was purchased separately. Laycock Dairy was not part of the amalgamation as such. (Source: City of Calgary Year Book – 1919, and Calgary Herald article Feb 14, 1918.)
In 1918 the Calgary Central Creamery business was restructured to become Central Creameries, Limited. It continued to operate at 602-3rd Ave. W. P. Pallesen is listed as manager of the creamery.
After the amalgamation, the main pasteurized milk plant of the Union Milk Company Limited was at 228–5 Ave.E. A new company, Crystal Dairy Limited was established a block away on 5th Ave to manufacture high grade ice cream.
As a sidebar note, the 1919 directory lists G.A. Drake as a traveler for Central Creameries and W.J. Derby as a shipper for Crystal Dairy.
Fast forward to 1929. In that year the Carlyle Dairy group acquired Central Creameries Limited. They set up a holding company, United Dairies Limited to manage the three large companies now under their control: Union Milk, Crystal Dairy, and Central Creameries Limited.
After the sale of Central Creameries, Mr. Pallesen continued in business as President of Palleson P. & M. MacCougan Limited. This company carried on business as: Financial agents, Real Estate, Farm lands, Loans and General Insurance.
These notes prepared on February 25, 2016, based on Calgary Henderson’s Directories accessed at the Alberta Provincial Archives in Edmonton, and other sources.