Cass-Clay’s History
1934
The Cass-Clay® Cooperative Creamery Association was established in Moorhead, Minnesota on October 1, 1934 in the depths of the Great Depression. Founded in the Red River Valley by farmer Ben Briggs, Briggs was determined to find a solution to the low pay farmers were receiving from a local dairy “centralizer.” The solution came in the form of developing a farmer cooperative in Cass County, North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota, and surrounding area with investment support from local Fargo and Moorhead businessmen. In the early days, Cass-Clay primarily manufactured and sold butter and milk. Since then, the Cass-Clay brand has grown and expanded to become the trusted dairy brand across North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota.
1942
Cass-Clay Creamery began its ice cream production operations in October 1942 when they purchased Acme Dairy in Fargo, North Dakota. At that time, farmers would load their canisters of milk at the train depot to deliver them to the creamery in town. Then the trains would deliver the empty canisters with the farmer’s paycheck back to the farmer. Today, you can see a replica of this creamery facility in Bonanzaville – a history museum complex located in West Fargo, ND.
1955-1957
In 1955, construction began on Cass-Clay Creamery’s new general offices and manufacturing facility located at 21st Street and 3rd Avenue North in the Fargo, North Dakota industrial area where the Cass-Clay headquarters operation remains today. The Moorhead plant was fully moved to the new Fargo facility by 1957.
2012
Cass-Clay became part of the Kemps family of brands in 2012. This move made Cass-Clay a 100% farmer-owned brand of Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), a leading global dairy cooperative of family dairy farmers across the United States caring for their cows, their land and their communities.