PellaвЂ™s milk supply was not affected by the national and Wisconsin conflicts because there was a local dairy business.

This caused some farmers to lose their lives standing up for a fair milk pricing. Their strikes turned violent and National Guard was called to control the protests. It was in 1933, during the depression that the farmers tried to withhold milk supply in Wisconsin to raise the prices. He reflected that it was heavy and hard work. He lived a few houses down on Washington Street and remembers going after school to wash the milk and cream cans. My neighbor, Don Verros was one of these boys. The LubbersвЂ™ Dairy employed many high school aged boys to help with the processing and bottling of the milk. Later it was converted into garages to shelter the delivery trucks. Behind the dairy he built a stable with a stall for the delivery horse and a place to store the milk delivery wagon. There was land to the east of the house to construct a building that still stands today! Hendrik established his milk processing business and named it The Clover Leaf Dairy. This 1892 Victorian style house was known for its ornate features along with a beautiful flower and vegetable garden. Needing more space for the dairy business Hendrik purchased a home at 314 Washington Street. They also brought Tony and Gerrit VanSetten into their family after their parents passed away. This started a dairy business for the LubbersвЂ™ family that spanned three generations! The Lubbers family eventually had six children, Katheryn, Martin, Grace, Klassina, Andrew and Gerard. By 1907, Hendrik had invested in a few milk cows and began selling the extra milk by making the deliveries with a horse and two-wheel cart. Hendrik Lubbers was employed as the caretaker of Oakwood Cemetery. Arriving with the Dutch couple were their three small children ages five, three, and six weeks old. In May or June of 1906, Hendrik and Johanna Lubbers immigrated to Pella from the Netherlands. Agriculture helped make Pella sustainable and pasture was an added value product for the cemetery trustees.

Livestock was a vital part of pioneer life both in working the land, producing food and controlling the growth.

This section of rolling hills was also rich pasture land, the cemetery provided both designated graves and area to expand which needed to be maintained. You may wonder what a cemetery has to do with a Dairy. It was incorporated in 1867 as a cemetery and it was referred to as Oakwood Cemetery in 1903. Scholte donated the land for burial plots in 1848 for some of the pioneers. They were part of the Dutch coalition traveling under the leadership of Dominie Scholte. The Dutch pioneers built straw dwellings among the oak trees in the Northwest corner of Pella after emigrating from the Netherlands. Clover Leaf Dairy and a Love That Lasts a LifetimeвЂ¦

Clover diary