Banks Dairy Farm
Bulloch County, Bulloch County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Banks Dairy Farm. The Banks Dairy Farm was operated on this site and included 900 acres of cultivated land combined with dairying operations. David Callaway Banks, born April 8, 1882, in Bulloch County, Georgia, was the founder of Banks Dairy Farm and The City Dairy Company. D. C. Banks married Sarah Juliann Brannen in 1906 and in 1908 purchased the first part of what was to become Banks Dairy Farm. In 1932 D. C. Banks purchased an adjoining farm from his father-in-law, James Gross Brannen, dramatically expanding the farm. The main concentration of the Banks Dairy Farm was dairy operations with most of the milk going to the family owned City Dairy Company. The farm also produced other livestock, wheat, cotton, tobacco, peanuts, watermelons and corn. Each of the children of D. C. and Annie Banks performed specific jobs on the farm under the overall supervision of D. C. Osborne was in charge of the plant in town, Lonnie in charge of milking, Edwin in charge of feed crops, and Henry handled milk. Other children included Nina, Grace, Martha Ann and Bernard. The dairying operations of the farm ended in 1982 with the sale to Coble Dairy. Supported by the Jack N. and Addie D. Averitt Foundation
Erected by Bulloch County Historical Society
The Story
Founded in 1908 when David Callaway Banks bought his first tract in Bulloch County, Banks Dairy Farm grew into a 900-acre operation combining dairying with cotton, tobacco, peanuts, watermelons and other crops. Most of its milk flowed to the family-owned City Dairy Company, and each of the Banks children took charge of a piece of the enterprise — the town plant, the milking, the feed crops. The dairy ran for three-quarters of a century until it was sold in 1982.
Why it matters
The farm illustrates the family-run agricultural enterprise that anchored rural southern economies through the twentieth century.
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Related people
- · David Callaway Banks
- · Sarah Juliann Brannen
Themes & tags
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