This series brought to you in partnership with Wisconsin State Fair. When you’re in need of racing pigs and Cream Puffs, there’s only one place to go. See you at the Wisconsin State Fair, presented by UScellular, July 31-August 10.
Let’s be honest, you might be forgiven for never having really noticed the Dairy Building at Wisconsin State Fair Park in the past.
Despite its elegant entrances on three sides, most of the exterior was often hidden behind a row of classically loud carnival-style vendor booths and the majority of its many windows – maybe all of them, actually – had been covered over since the 1970s.
Plus, since 1924, darn near everyone approaching it had one thing in mind and a single focus: GET. A. CREAM. PUFF.
But now, the second-oldest building on the grounds has gotten a refresh, and seeing it with fresh eyes – its windows now reopened to allow light to stream in and nearly all of the vendor booths outside relocated – it’s really a lovely structure and a key part of the history of the Wisconsin State Fair, which runs through Aug. 10.
A little history
While the State Fair dates to 1851, it didn’t come to rest on its current site until 1892, having previously moved around from Janesville to Milwaukee to Watertown to Milwaukee to Janesville to Madison to Milwaukee to Janesville to Madison ... you get the picture.
In 1891, the Agricultural Society, which operated the fair, sold Camp Randall where it had hosted the event in Madison and bought the 160-acre Stevens Farm in what was called North Greenfield for $136,000.
By the time State Fair opened the following year, a grandstand with seating for 6,000, a race track and four race horse stables, and some exhibition buildings – including a 40x80-foot dairy building – were erected.
In 1896, the first dairy building got an enlarged refrigerator (likely chilled with blocks of ice) and five years later the building was expanded to the north.
When the University of Wisconsin Dairy School set up a working dairy at the fair in 1899, it was likely in this building, while the following year, exhibitors were added to the building for the first time. One of those exhibits was a butter churn that could be powered by dogs or sheep.
In 1901, the dairy building got yet another addition and the UW Dairy School’s exhibit included “butter in novel and artistic forms.”
In 1903, the Milwaukee Journal reported that a new 55x35-foot dairy building was being constructed at a cost of $3,450.
In 1904, the Dairy Department – probably in that new building – sold the cheese and butter competition entries at the fair’s end for the first time ever.
That 1903 dairy was rather quickly deemed inadequate.
In September 1908, two days before that year’s fair was to open, the same newspaper reported that, “the dairy building is filled to overflowing. It is under the supervision of Supt. (Laurence E.) Scott, (who) has found it necessary to remove the exhibition of milking cows by machinery to a covered platform outside the building, and other practical demonstrations of dairy machinery will be given outside of the building.”
Thus, by the start of July 1909, the Journal wrote that, “the contract for the new model dairy building for the state fair grounds was let Thursday for $21,800.”
The lucky contractor – Madson, Christenson & Ingbretson – had very little time to get the place built, since it was expected to be ready by that year’s fair, which opened on Sept. 13.
On Aug. 11, newspapers checked in and reported that, “work is progressing steadily on the large new dairy building. The new building will give ample room for the ever increasing dairy exhibits of the state.”
Rather amazingly, it was finished in time, along with other new construction that year, which included a Model Rural School building, an addition to Ferry & Clas’ 1892 Administration Building and a Model Farm Barn.
Just a few days before the fair opened, William George Bruce, then secretary of the Merchants and Manufacturers’ Association, said, “The model farmer’s barn, built purely along educational lines, the model dairy building and the model rural schoolhouse are tremendous steps in advance of anything ever seen on these grounds before and speaks for the steps further in advance which are to come with each successive fair.”
At the same gathering where Bruce spoke, plans for “the state fair beautiful” – drawn by Alfred C. Clas and landscape architect John M. Nolen – were exhibited, and it was noted that the State Board of Agriculture hoped to have the proposed work completed within 10 years.
“The plans,” the Journal reported, “are the first step toward a systematic arrangement of all the building on the grounds.”
A new model dairy building
On Sept. 13, Fair President George McKerrow kicked off the fair with a 9 a.m. speech delivered on the steps of the Administration Building. At 2 p.m., the Model Rural School building was dedicated by State Superintendent C. P. Cary, who was instrumental in the design of the schoolhouse.
At 2:30, Gov. William D. Hoard delivered a dedication speech at the new Modern Dairy Building, which, it was noted, cost $35,000. One detail I could not find anywhere was the identity of the architect of the building, though I have a feeling that Ferry & Clas may have been responsible.
Inside, awaiting the first guests was “Bill Taft No. 2,” also described as “the president in butter,” which had been shipped from Madison for display in “the most conspicuous place in the new dairy building (which) has been set aside for it.”
Fortunately, the building was spared when a tornado swept through State Fair grounds in 1910. A commissary was added to it that same year.
The grounds also survived an attempt in 1912 to move the fair back to Camp Randall in Madison. Two years after that, another tornado and multiple fires wreaked havoc on the fair grounds, but again spared the Dairy.
Cream puffs arrive!
Then, on Aug. 25, 1924 – a day that ought to be celebrated as a Wisconsin holiday – the fair opened with the Wisconsin Bakers Association selling cream puffs (and other items) made on-site in the Dairy Bakery located inside the Dairy Building.
A lunch concession was also set up in the building this year, according to a timeline shared by Wisconsin State Fair.
In 1936, the Wisconsin Brand Dairy Store opened in the building, selling cheese and butter, with delivery by mail an option.
In 1948, the building underwent a $21,450 remodeling and was renamed in honor of the new Alice in Dairyland, an honor launched that year with Margaret McGuire crowned as the first Alice.
A robotic Alice
A 12-foot-tall mechanical Alice mannequin that moved its arms and spoke to passersby – its features based on McGuire’s – was added to the building at a cost of $17,000 and quickly became a hit with fairgoers.
Each year the towering Alice’s features were tinkered to resemble that year’s State Fair dairy queen.
The ‘50s saw the Dairy Building getting frequent themed makeovers.
In 1950 the mechanical Alice was joined by an array of artificial trees and a star-studded blue ceiling to create “a relaxing atmosphere.” In honor of the newly opened Disneyland in California, the Dairy Building was adorned with a Disney theme in 1955. Three years later it got a futuristic space theme.
In 1961 the building was again renamed, this time to the Food Products Building. Five years later, the giant Alice – which in 1954 had been tinkered to be “a composite of all Alice in Dairylands” and was now in need of an estimated $10,000 in repairs – was retired.
In 1963, heat was installed in the Dairy, as well as the Women’s, Merchandising and Manufacturing Buildings, rendering them more useful throughout the year.
In 1974 the building was joined to the North and South Exhibit Halls and renamed the East Exhibit Hall. In 2002, the North and South Halls were torn down and replaced with the Wisconsin Exposition Center.
The name changes continued to flow as naming rights were sold in 2004 and it was dubbed the Master Spa Pavilion until 2009 when the Wisconsin Bakers Association bought those rights and the building became known as the Original Cream Puff Pavilion. (Are you as exhausted as I am now?)
The renovation
Thankfully, after a massive 11-month, $12.5 million renovation, the building once again bears its original name: the Dairy Building.
Greenfire Management Services did the work according to plans by American Design, Inc., and got going immediately after the 2024 fair closed, says Jill Albanese, who has worked at State Fair since 1997 and is director of competitive exhibits and fair park beautification.
All of the exterior entrances and their columns have been restored and refreshed, including the main entrance on the east side of the building with its 1909-style “DAIRY” sign above the door.
The first thing you’ll notice when you step inside this entrance is the beautiful barrel-vaulted ceiling and a long skylight.
If those were visible before, I can’t say I ever noticed them in the formerly dark and shed-like atmosphere before, which was thanks in large part to those blocked up windows.
But now the whole place gleams and is refreshingly bright and welcoming. New flooring, painted walls, retro dairy-themed poster-style art.
You’ll find that the cream puff bakery has been shifted from the east side to the west side of the building, though – as before – windows allow customers to see the puffs being made. But now, the bakery facility itself is bigger and updated so there’s more to see.
A new addition to the west side of the building allowed more space for the larger kitchen area, as well as for much-needed new restrooms.
Moving the bakery to the west side made more sense, Albanese says, because it's now connected to other back of house facilities.
“You'll be blown away about how amazing it is,” Albanese says, and she’s not wrong. “It's so streamlined and you can view the whole bakery operation. It's amazing.
“And the display is just stunning. You really need to see it.”
The display is one focused on the dairy industry in Wisconsin and it occupies the center of the more open south side of the building, where it is joined by a number of vendors, selling milk, ice cream and other treats. Also in this space is a Roast Coffee stand.
When the fair isn’t going on, that south end, along with the long east side of the building, can be rented for weddings, parties and other events.
Outside, along the east side, which used to have a long row of fair vendor booths, there’s now a strip of gravel running the length of the building, which has picnic table seating, that will become a more formal patio soon.
“The landscaping outside is a project that'll be finished in two fairs,” Albanese says. “So not this year or next year, but in 2027 the landscaping outside will be finished, but for now we've really jazzed up with a lot of banana (trees in pots) and it's really kind of fun.
“The vendors that were on the outside attached to the building have been removed to reveal the beautiful stone work and all the beauty of the building, which you will so appreciate.”
One can’t help but think that 116 years on, Bruce, Clas, Nolen, Hoard and the others would be proud.
“Since we know everyone loves the unique taste of Wisconsin’s favorite dessert,” says Wisconsin State Fair CEO Shari Black, “we had to make sure we honored the history and tradition of this Fairgoer favorite when we decided to undertake the Dairy Building renovations.
“We also took this opportunity to introduce a more streamlined ordering and pick-up system to help ensure those 400,000-plus cream puffs delivering smiles each year get into your hands even quicker.”
Read more Urban Spelunking stories about Milwaukee’s history, architecture and urban landscape here.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
