Roscoe Butter and Cheese Factory

By the end of the 19th-Century, dairy was quickly out-pacing wheat as the top agricultural commodity in the southeastern part of the state. Small but efficient factories began dotting the countryside to process the milk into butter and cheese. By the end of the 1930s, there were 19 creameries and 17 cheese factories located throughout Goodhue County alone.

The butter and cheese factory in Roscoe began operations in 1898 as a cooperative of Roscoe Township farmers to replace earlier buildings on the site dating back to 1890. The cooperative and its successor, the Roscoe Dairy Association, operated in this factory until 1949. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Built of orange brick and just one and a half stories tall, the factory building resembles a barn with its gambrel roof and gabled dormers. Its humble size illustrates the small scale in which these locally-oriented factories operated during this phase of the dairy industry.