| City/Town: • Oklahoma City |
| Location Class: • Commercial • Videos |
| Built: • 1974 | Abandoned: • 1998 |
| Status: • Abandoned • Endangered |
| Photojournalist: • Billy Dixon • Michael Schwarz |
The Townley Dairy was one of my first explorations and has proven to be one of my favorites. It has been abandoned since 1998. The cause of the abandonment isn’t as cool as some of the stories I used to hear. Several of them being about deaths associated with the factory. There were two deaths that are supposedly linked to the factory; One being the death of a man struck by a dairy truck in ownership of Townley Dairy, the other being a delivery man who was killed in the OKC bombing of the Murrah Building. After researching the victims of the bombing it’s clear that the rumor is untrue. The true cause of the Dairy closing it’s doors was the termination of Guy Townley from Farm Fresh who had acquired the Townley brand in 1993. Townley had filed a suit against Farm Fresh, but the case was dismissed. Farm Fresh closed down the factory soon after focusing on other properties. However the factory is still listed on several agriculture sites under the dairy directory listing. The lot, which is just over 6 acres is actually for sale. Most of the land is empty field, with the factory, dock, and several storage sheds on the corner of the lot. The City of Oklahoma is looking to secure the location, so the future of this gem is uncertain. There have been 2 fires in the Dairy, both have been chalked up to arson. Below you can check out two KFOR Channel 4 videos of the second fire, which occurred on November 23rd, 2006.
Gallery Below
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I worked in this dairy in 1979. Mr. Townley, himself, interviewed me for an entry-level position there. It was a short-lived experience and I worked packaging ice-cream with several other men. When my car broke down, I no longer had means to drive to work and had to find other employment closer to home. It was a job I wished I could have kept as I felt very comfortable working there.
My daddy worked at the dairy during WW11. I was born while we lived at dairy housing which was just south of the dairy. We moved from that house when I was 4 years old 1946 when my daddy became a delivery man. Later in 1949 he was fired for trying to form a union. Side line story Sammy Townley sold my trycle to a neighbor and I never got it back or paid for it
Our house was a 3 room shot gun house we shared the out house with the neighbors. My daddy added a bath room and bedroom to the house which made it larger than the others, right after that Mr Townley had us move. I would love to see if the old house id still there. I would know it because it’s the only one with the addition.If anyone would be able to help me go visit it I’d pay you for the trip. I’m a little older now but can walk on my own. I’d love to see it.
do you still have any townley milk bottles?
The owner should be easy to determine using the county assessor's website.
it was built before 1975
i know excactley where its at my best friends lived down the street from the place it was before 1975 hey clothing factorydo u remember Margeret and Ab down the street from the old factory
[…] the place is up for sale and includes about six acres of pasture. You can learn more about it on the Abandoned OK […]
I would love to get my hands on that sign on top of the building. It would look great hanging in the garage or barn. It needs to be saved before that place gets bulldozed anyway. Anyone want to grab it for me? Haha.
Stumbled upon this building yesterday while driving the old Grand Boulivard route around the city. Extremely dilapidated. It looks as if a gust of wind would finish it. There is fencing all around and there were new semi trucks parked out back along with an old mobile home in the front…strange. There are a row of older houses in front of the factory closer to the main road. If you are curious I would be very cautious of those that may be around you, especially if people on this site offer to take you on a "tour."
I remember the delivery truck bringing our milk and icecream in 67, another piece of history gone.
I worked at Townley's in the early 90's. When i worked there i drove acouple different delivery rtes & i worked in the the plant. The area on the north side of the plant starting at the nw corner was the freezer area. The middle of the north side was the milk storage area that the trucks were lded from. I've sriven by the old plant recently and it breaks my heart to see it in such pitiful shape. It was an interesting place to work. The building has been added onto so many times that it was a rats maze to find your way around. I dont know exactly how old the original part of the plant is, but the dairy was founded back in the 30's or so i remember. Guy Townley was the 3rd generation to own the dairy. When i worked there Guy was well into the process of destroying what his predecessors had worked to build. All of the equipment we used was practically antique including the trucks. The whole place was seriously neglected. Originally or so i was told the dairy farm included the area to the east where the apartments & the 7-11 are presently it also extended all the way to reno avenue.
I have an old bottle from Townley Dairy. It's small, maybe 21/2-3 inches tall. It has a churn inside of it and has their logo on the bottle. If anyone is interested, you may contact me at alicenwonderland305@yahoo.com.
Is the building still mostly there?
Some group should salvage that sign on the top of the building before it's too late.
Oh I see the links were here regarding that history, thank you for posting those!!! Sorry to read about all that.
I was just remembering about Townleys delivering our milk when I was a kid and then I was searching on the internet about it. It sounded sad how the company ended, I guess a conglomerate got controlling interest of the company and then fired the last Mr. Townley who was running it at the time, looked like he tried to sue but no luck? Then they just closed it down? What a shame.
best milk i have ever drank.
I just found this website. This is awesome!!!! We used to paint in there all the time. Well before the second fire. I wish I would have taken more stuff out of there but we did not think about there being a second fire. I LOVED going to this place. Here is a quick story. Me and some friends decide to go paint in there just doing some graffiti in a abandoned building. We had been there before so we felt good about it. We are in there painting and we heard a noise like a diesel truck. it was coming from the next room over. We were like what the heck is that. We looked around the corner and there are these 2 guys with a generator and all sorts of power tools. They were stripping anything they could scrap from this place. They scared us, we scared them. Then we went back to painting. About a hour goes by and they come tell us they are running to the 7-11 would we keep a eye on their equip. Like any of us had the right to be in there. That place was awesome!!!!!!!!
Going here tonight..any update on if its occupied or not?
Has anybody been out here recently? I drove by and it appears someone has bought it and using it to store cars. Would love to get back in.
i live right next to townleys abandoned factory. ive lived here before the two fires were set. ive been inside there so many times, i know my way around the whole place. if anyone wants to go in, let me know and i will show you the creepiest spots. I remember back when i was a teenager me and a few friends use to run around in there and play hide n go seek.
Me and my friends would like to check it out. is there anyway in it today?
Hey could u email me. I'm very interested. Beautifulmess0928@gmail.com
Do you happen to know who the owner is? I went there last Saturday and spoke to a couple that told us a partial owner lived near the area.
Me and my friends are really interested in visiting to take pictures for a school project
this place is located in ahigh crime area. so do make sure you have someone with you. anyway you wouldn't want to get hurt and be all alone and the cell phone not work….just be safe!!!
This was my first UrbEx as well. It is an amazing place. However, I have not been able to go inside the actual warehouse too far as I have been alone and got a bit freaked out. LOL Anyone who is up for a tour of the place let me know. It is up for sale now and I want to go in more depth than I have been able to before. So if you are up for it, let me know. You can reach me through my website… 1000beautifulthings.com
Be careful around there. When we went there we saw a couple of womens panties and clothing, which I gather, because of the area equals prostitution. Also the main area up the delivery ramp with all the graffiti in a large gathering area, usually signals gang activity. We noticed this same thing at Robberson Steel. A huge area with a "grandstand" above the rest of the area. It seems the same at Townley. Just sn FYI explore with a buddy or alone with a gun! LOL
Went here the other weekend and it was really awesome! It still smelled like it was burning. The graffiti was awesome, there isn’t much like this in the city! We also salvaged some old townley milk bottles with old adds on them.
Glad you guys like it! I’ll try and grab some more and more recent shots sometime when I head back down to OKC.
Hey Billy, Got Milk? lol!
Yeah the spiral staircase is my fave too!
Haha, "Got Milk?".
I haven't heard that one in a while.
It's one of my favorites too, along with the chair picture and the don't fall guy.
I used to be a delivery driver for townleys, what memories
Glad you guys like it! I'll try and grab some more and more recent shots sometime when I head back down to OKC.
Usually I am not a fan of graffiti in buildings, but photo #56 is a perfectly composed photo. Looks great!
Love that spiral staircase in pic #25!