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In an Atlanta Constitution article from November 11, 1940, “Tuggle Dairy is a Showplace on Briarcliff Road,” this DeKalb County dairy is described as one of the most modern in the county. The dairy was run by C. C. Tuggle and his two sons, A. C. Tuggle and R. W. Tuggle. DeKalb County had many dairies during this time period.
C. C. Tuggle began in the business when he was a boy, following in his father’s footsteps. The one-hundred-acre dairy farm had an address of 3200 Briarcliff Road.
The dairy had 150 cows in 1940, mostly Jerseys according to the article. A new and modern pasteurizing and bottling plant had recently been built. The volume of milk product each day was about 300 gallons. Milk was sent to restaurants, homes and hotels across Atlanta.
An advertisement on the same page as the article describes the product as “Grade A Natural Raw and Pasteurized MILK, rich in vitamins and food value, especially good for babies, delivered at your door. C. C. Tuggle Dairy, 3200 Briarcliff Road, N. E. Atlanta, phone number VD 1952.”
The dairy also manufactured its own ice in a recently built plant. Readers of the article are invited to visit. “If you are careful about the milk you use-and you ought to be-drop out along Briarcliff Road some day and inspect this new and unusually sanitary dairy. Mr. Tuggle or his courteous sons would be glad to welcome you and show you through an ideally clean and sanitary dairy.”
In 1953, another article about C. C. Tuggle Dairy Farm appears in the Atlanta Constitution. Just a few days before Christmas, a story titled “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year from C. C. Tuggle.” The dairy is run by A. C. Tuggle and R. W. Tuggle by 1953.
Once again, the modern methods and equipment of the dairy are lauded. “Hundreds of families, markets, institutions and hotels in Atlanta and vicinity are served by the C. C. Tuggle Dairy fleet of modern trucks.” Visitors are welcome to Tuggle Dairy to watch the handling of milk, pasteurizing, bottling, washing and sterilizing bottles.
The 1953 article refers to an address of 2370 Briarcliff Road, which today is near where Briarcliff Road meets Sheridan Road. The earlier article address is along Briarcliff just north of Clairmont Road. The distance between these two locations is almost two miles.
Were these two separate locations, were there two dairies named Tuggle or is this just a matter of addresses changing over the years? These are questions I don’t have the answer to yet. If you know more about Tuggle Dairy, please write me at pasttensega@gmail.com.