Harrisburg Dairies, Inc.
P.O. Box 2001
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2001

PHONE: (717) 233-8701
TOLL FREE: (800) 692-7429
FAX: (717) 231-4584
E-MAIL: sales@harrisburgdairies.com 

Business Hours:   Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST

The Beginning

Harrisburg Dairies was founded in 1931 through the establishment of a partnership between Ben Wolfe and Elias Wagner. In 1946, it was incorporated and developed the organizational structure that exists today.

Throughout the years, it has remained family owned and operated. Edwin Wagner became Ben Wolfe's partner when his father, Elias, passed away. And when Ben Wolfe died, his son-in-law, Fred Dewey, assumed management. Shortly before Edwin Wagner passed away, he sold his interest back into the company, leaving the Dewey family sole owners. Today, Fred Dewey, Jr. runs the family business.

Early Years

From 1931 to 1945, Harrisburg Dairies was a pioneer in the introduction of homogenized Vitamin D milk and purepak paper containers, among other innovations.

The dairy started out with only a handful of home delivery accounts. But through aggressive salesmanship, under the direction of Ben Wolfe, Harrisburg Dairies grew rapidly through the Depression and World War II. By 1948, there were 40 retail routes and 5 wholesale routes.

During WWII, Harrisburg Dairies was ordered by the Federal government to supply the Army's milk products at Indiantown Gap, Carlisle Barracks, and the New Cumberland Army Depot. Even though this was a difficult task, the Dairy managed to achieve success during this time.

The Dairy continued to grow between 1945 and 1960 to a total of 140 retail routes and 15 wholesale routes, serving a wide area of South Central Pennsylvania.

Recent Years

Until 1996, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had a "Grade AA" Quality rating, which required participating dairies to comply with standards up to ten times more stringent than those for Grade A dairies. Since this rating was administered by Pennsylvania, and not the Federal government, milk labeled with the "Grade AA" rating could not be sold outside Pennsylvania. When this rating was eliminated in 1996, Harrisburg Dairies continued to produce the same high quality products, but we were able to expand the business by selling our products in other states.Because of our continually growing business, in 1999 we installed a state-of-the-art processing system which more than doubled our capacity. This new system also gave us increased flexibility in responding to our customers' needs.

Today, we serve our products to customers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington, D.C.