| City/Town: • Lawton |
| Location Class: • Commercial • Industrial |
| Built: • 1929 | Abandoned: • 1970's |
| Status: • Restored |
| Photojournalist: • AbandonedOK Team |
It is still one of the most captivating buildings in Lawton, a multistory fortress of red brick occupying a solid city block, its signature narrow smokestack rising above almost everything else in the downtown industrial zone.
But if it’s still imposing enough to demand attention, in its heyday the Fairmont Creamery at 411 SE Larrance Avenue was not only recognizable, it was a center of attention, an absolute beehive that employed well over 100 people who turned the milk of thousands of dairy cows into ice cream, cottage cheese and other products consumed by generations of Lawtonians.
The creamery that stands today was built in 1929, with expansions added in 1979 and 1985, but the Fairmont Co. actually came to the still budding town of Lawton in 1905, according to Travis Warner, who took over care of the creamery four years ago with his brother, Derek Pever.
“Talking to old-timers and to my father, in 1905 it was originally right by the railroad tracks and people would come in and set up next to it to sell fruits and vegetables from carts, and it was like a market here every weekend,” Warner said.
Though most of the equipment that made the creamery what it was has now been removed, standing inside the 70,000-square-foot building, one can still get a sense of its rich history.
“At that time, it was actually the first state-of-the-art factory in Lawton,” Warner said, pointing out stout concrete columns rising from the building’s foundation to support the tremendous weight of the second-story concrete floor, which is 28 inches thick in places.
Warner has never seen accountings of how much milk flowed through the creamery or of how much ice cream or other dairy products shipped out on a day-to-day basis. He points out though, where a 10,000-gallon tank sat on the first floor for storing milk. On the second floor were another 10,000-gallon milk storage tank and two more that held 5,000 gallons each.
Nearby, the original freight elevator still stands in its shaft.
“When we were doing the (interior) demolition we got it working and used it,” he said.
In an area on the second floor where creamery employees once gathered before work, the doors of old wooden lockers stand open, as if left that way for a final inspection.
Down below, in the basement, Warner points to a dark space beneath some stairs where the building’s original blueprints were found.
“My dad was really excited about finding them,” he said.
There were offices in the basement, and a massive boiler that produced steam used by the factory.
On this recent day in mid-August, it was nothing if not hot inside the cavernous building, but when the Fairmont was a busy business concern, it was kept very cold inside.
“There were just miles and miles and miles of piping that went through here to keep it chilled.” Warner said. He points out a hole in an interior wall where a conveyor once swept ice cream being made through a “chill room” kept beyond chilly and, indeed, well below freezing.
“There was a conveyor that went through and by the time the ice cream passed through in 48 feet it was frozen solid,” he said.
The Fairmont Co. pulled out of Lawton in the 1970s. The creamery was then operated for a time by Farm Fresh, but has stood vacant for the past several years. Warner’s father, Joe Warner, bought it in 1995 and it remains under ownership of Fairmont Rentals, which he established.
Lawton Constitution, The (OK) – Sunday, August 31, 2008
Author: STEVE METZER ; STAFF WRITER
Gallery Below of Fairmont Creamery – Lawton
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[…] stripping the paint off the outside of the building, revealing a Fairmont Creamery Co. sign. The Fairmont Creamery in Lawton was the only popularly known location in Oklahoma so this find was exciting and surprising. […]
[…] (Abandoned) in Lawton, OK […]
[…] Dasia graduates this year and is also a champion cheerleader. After we spent a couple hours at the Fairmont Creamery, I decided I was hooked. I’m TOTALLY a senior photographer. Why couldn’t I have looked this […]
[…] (Abandoned) in Lawton, OK […]
Did this factory also operate a store that sold ice cream in part of it? Our aunt used to bring us to a big factory place and bought us ice cream in what I remember to be a cavernous place, they had tables and a long counter from which we ordered. Is this the same place?
It was in the early 1970's, 1973 to 1978
As I was shopping with my grandsons today for their choice of ice cream flavor, I was reminded of the best ice cream I ever ate. It was my grandfather's favorite…Lemon Custard from Fairmont Creamery. He lived in southwestern Nebraska. When visiting there were the only times I had it. I'd love to taste some of that again. It didn't "sound" good to me at first but it was wonderful. I've never found anything close to it since.
Everyone, reading most the comments invokes a feeling in me of how much the Fairmont Creamery has meant and means to Lawtonians. Rest assured that John and Gayle have great vision for this property and a group of us, The Fairmont District Experience, Inc., believes this to be the beginning of something wonderful for the Lawton community. While John and Gayle work diligently on the Creamery, the group is focused towards getting people comfortable with the area. We have a weekly organic farmers market at the Fairmont Marketplace and on a reoccurring basis events for the entire family. The building and the vision is featured in the Fall edition of the Lawton Living magazine, as well as our FB page (Fairmont District Experience).
John and Gayle Rutherford , the new owners have done a tremendous amount of work to the original building. Thanks to their efforts, one of Lawton's oldest historical buildings will not be lost or forgotten. Lawtonians should be very grateful for those two and the work and money they have poured into that building to save a piece of Lawton's history. The great "all knowing" city of lawton had the creamery on the demolition list when John and his wife bought the building. They have been battling the city council for quite some time to save the building from destruction. They have plans of opening restaurants and retail shops inside the building as well as holding community events on the property. The top floor of the building will eventually be their private residence. As a true Lawtonian of several generations I must say "Hats off to the Rutherford family for fighting the good fight!" I can't wait to see what the future holds for the building and the surrounding area!
-Jimmy R. Cann Jr
(Jimbo)
Thanks for sharing Jimbo! https://www.facebook.com/AbandonedOklahoma/posts/…
To: Mr. Jimmy Cann Jr, I'm trying to reach you about a roof job that was done that was done by All Pro Roofing or Roofing By All Pro or "Superior Roofing by All Pro" or what ever name they are switching to. Please contact me at ceciliabeauchamp at yahoo.com Thank you.
[…] (Abandoned) in Lawton, OK […]
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I wish someone could find one of the special quart glass milk bottles with the choke neck and spoon for pouring the risen cream from the pasteurized milk. This preceded homogenization. It was a great convenience.
I drove buy there last year and spoke to the owner. The building in no longer abandoned. The 2nd story has been converted into a house and repairs are being made to the 1st floor. The owner said that when he was done with the construction he wanted to rent out shops on the bottom floor. The people in Lawton are glad that he is renovating it and I would like to see an update on this story..
[…] from https://abandonedok.com/the-fairmont-creamery/ 0 comments » Upcoming […]
Some photo's are not of the Creamery…….. On a side note. It is being rebuilt. There is alot of construction going on right now.
Drove by this place in the morning. The building would make a great micro-brewery. Plenty of history, large building, just need the cash to restore and install the equipment.
when i was stationed down at Fort Sill, i came across this place on a cab ride back from the mall to base. it was night time, so i couldn't really see much, but it was huge. asked the cabbie about the bldg/area/history. he didn't really know much about it, but he did tell me about some wannabe gangs that were down here, and how women shouldn't be down there alone, especially at night. he said lot of assaults happened down there (rapes), and junkies, dealers, crazy ppl, homeless (squatters). i knew to stay away, but i went back to the mall the next day and took my bike w/ me (did not own a car at the time) and my camera. rode from the mall to the creamery (which i didn't know it was a creamery at that time – this would of been in 2006/2007 when i was there) in the daytime.
this place was massive! and from what i could see, a tagger's paradise. tons of graffiti outside and inside the bldg. what part of the building wasn't covered w/ it except for some 'heaven spots' (hard to reach/up high spots).
the thing that drew me to go back there was the graffiti, because i take pics of it and i send them into graffiti magazines. i like the art of it, but not all graffiti is art, i will def admit that. but i went to go take pics of the graff up there (the good looking graff that is).
i wanted to go inside the bldg, cuz i saw more graff up in there thru some broken parts in the bldg, but i was afraid too. it was so rundown, i thought i would surely get hurt just walking in or being on a stairwell. not to mention, i was alone and in case there was any crazy person or dangerous person in there, i did not have any kind of protection on me at all for fighting back, so i thought it best to not go inside.
but it wasn't just that that kept me from going inside, nor the cabbie's comments about the place. just standing outside that place, i felt something… like a negative energy… it was eerie to be close to the bldg just to shoot the outside graffiti tag pics.. so i knew there was no way i was going inside it.. i did try a few times on a few diff occasions too, but i just couldn't bring myself to go in. i tried to get other ppl to go w/ me, but none of them would come either. they too also commented on an uneasy feeling they got when they were around it… they also felt a lil scared…
i think Ghosthunters should go down there and do an episode inside the creamery and other rundown factories right near Larrance.
I rode my bike around Larrance and the other streets nearby that had old rundown boarded up bldg's too… i don't know the names of the streets or the bldg's that are on them anymore, but there's like 3 of them around the corner just a couple streets down from the creamery. they are open and have tons of tags inside and out. i only shot the outside of the bldg, cuz even at those ones i was afraid to go in (and it was daytime). came close to going inside one to get more pics of it inside, but when i was about too, i could of swore i heard a dog inside the bushes or something. i heard something, and i made a beeline for my bike and got the hell out of there. i never went back (to that one).
I'm glad i did leave, because later on that night when i re-visited the creamery (at around dusk time, 7pm-8pm ish), before i rode down there, i did see some crazy ppl, and i also saw a rottweiler that got loose out of somewhere and started chasing me… i went back to the mall, he stopped following me when i got back there…
(those other bldg's i made mention of that were close to the creamery, i remember they were close to Gore blvd, kinda).
i went to visit the creamery on several occasions to shoot pics though. never went inside…. like i said, i felt a negative energy being around it.
found out thru research someone bought it and plans to renovate. if they do make it into something, hopefully they can improve that whole area down there. there's so much you could do down there and make it a better pleasant area… for one they could build a major skatepark in any of those rundown buildings…
Outstanding. My Dad worked at Fairmont, he started inside, and ended up driving a route truck. He worked there from about 1960 to 1973. Fairmont was the main topic of conversation everynight at the dinner table. I still have one of the old steel milk crates they used. I would love to tour thru the place.
I have a milk can from a Fairmont Creamery. It has the message on it" When empty to return to a Mrs. T C Wiggins / Shelocta, Pa. – Pittsburgh, Pa Is this the same company? I could send a photo. It has the Company initials formed into a kind of brand, located at the top of the can. I think the tag is brass. The can itself is in excellent condition.
wonder how i can find an old fairmont train car. sure would look great setting out front
gayle
I bet it would! I SEE U FOUND THE SITE. 🙂
On the Highway going to Faxon is an abandoned town site for Holiday, Ok. The last time we went by there it still had part of one building. My mother was born there in s dugout in 1914. Faxon is almost abandoned.
I went to the Fairmont Creamery for a field trip in 1949. Which was also about the same time creameries switched from glass bottles to wax cartons. I still remember the smell and the guys wading around in hip booths slushing through yucky grey water. I didn't drink another glass of milk for 20 years.
I absolutely love places like this!! I grew up in Lawton, and love learning about it's history. I didn't appreciate it when I was younger, but I sure do now that I have a family. I was down in that part of town not too long ago and saw the building there; I was really intrigued about finding out more. Your site is awesome; thank you so much for helping us remember the forgotten.
How do we go about getting permission to go visit this place? I want to go stroll around and take some photos but I want to make sure that I get some approval to visit the creamery.
The day I went, there were already a couple of people there taking pictures, but they soon left after my arrival. As for permission, I'm sure its fine t just look around the property, but if you want to get inside, not sure who'd you have to talk to.
My parents own the Fairmont now, they don't allow visitors anymore because theres too much construction going on iside. Once it has been restored they will allow guests.
what are the plans for the creamery?
will it be demolished, renovated, left as-is?
Just stumbled on this site and thankful I did! My Father was Chief Plant Engineer for 30 years at this plant. It is heartbreaking to see the building in it’s present condition. So much history. Thanks for stroll thru your site!
Thanks for swinging by and commenting SKay! It’s great to hear stories from family or workers of any of our places. It really gives meaning to the place. The place is forgotten by so many people, but you and your father remember the creamery! Its great to put real history with these, told by the people that lived it! Thanks for the comment!
That's awesome background information! There is a part of that looked burnt, did you find anything about that?
usually on these old abandoned buildings, records are scarce once it is vacant, only because there is no one to report the news… so I didn’t find anything about a fire, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen…
My father worked at Fairmonts from 1951 to 1962. I was in the building last Friday. I can seethat if you did not know better you would have the perception it was burned especially on the 2nd floor. It is just the remants of the old 2 inch thick cork wood that was used in the old days as insulation surrounding the freezer. Over the years of getting wet and exposure to the elements it darkened. However there were 2 minor fires one occurred in the second floor in the freezer on the 2nd floor. This was mostly confined to the insulation surrounding some newly installed equipment. The 2nd was due to a newly installed compressor on the 1st floor and was merely an electrical fire, turn off the switch the fire goes out situation. Both incidents were minor. The freezer in size was about as big as a 2 bedroom house. Ice Cream, pop cycles and 5 gallon containers of frozen condensed milk was stored here. The freezer section was moved to an addition that was added in 1958. We took a movie camera and recorded the construction progress. Dad still has the film.
2nd part of father worked for fairmonts
The new addition replaced a large chicken coop that was used to raise hens for egg production and sale of eggs and fryers. The south side of the 2nd floor was where my dad worked this was the homization and pasturation department as well as condensed milk. This had several 2000 gallon tanks for milk processing. Between the homization-pasturation was a 2000 gallon concrete tank for buttermilk culture. The 1st floor was milk recieving and glass bottle washing, sterilizaton and filling as well as a certification and testing lab. Basement was 2000 gallon tanks for liquid sugar, grape, orange juices, liquid wax for coating cardboard containers and refrigerant coils for the freezer. This was where most of the other mechanical equipment was kept. The north side of the main building was a appendecture structure to process rejected milk (occassionally the cow would produce milk with strains of blood) into dry powdered milk products
3rd part of father worked for fairmonts
As a side all of the milk cans that are so familiar to the country image of a dairy farm were each coded with the dairy name, delivery person, date of delivery etc very detailed to ensure where rejected milk came from and the dairy to contact to advise of the defect. My family operated 2 dairies near Lawton besides my dad working in Fairmont. Aslo 2 artisian wells are on the property
Roger, If you haven't given your info. to Gayle Rutherford, please give me a call. The Rutherfords want to have an area dedicated to the workers and family members of the Fairmont Creamery. You can reach me at 580-678-1769. Thanks, Chuck
Awesome! I love places like this!