We had a milk chute at our home at 500 North Edgeworth. The entire neighborhood had one. Ours was an opening on the side of the house near the side door. The opening allowed us to place empty milk bottles inside the chute and the milkman to deliver fresh ones through the outside. A few older homes in the first block of North Edgeworth had insulated boxes that sat on the front porch rather than holes in the side of the house.
The average size of a milk chute is 12″ x 16″. Ours had a metal door both inside and out. There was an internal latch designed to be opened only from the inside, but it was easily popped open from the outside when needed. Mom or Dad popped it open more than once and slid me through the hole when they returned home to a locked house and no keys. My two sisters probably experienced the same a time or two.
I don’t recall how often the milkman made his rounds. Probably once or twice a week. Most the the time the milkman simply replaced the number of bottles mom left in the chute because that was our standard order. If she wanted cottage cheese, butter, half and half, eggs, or simply extra milk, she left a note in the chute. Her order was filled as requested. You could get whatever he carried delivered through the chute. Payment for the product was left in the same manner. Most of the time Mom just ordered milk.
She belonged to a pinochle group that played once a month. It was a group of four woman who were friends of mom’s when we lived in Centerline. Our Centerline home held just Mom, Dad and me. The four women took turns hosting the pinochle group. The card playing continued after we moved to Royal Oak.
Mom served multicolored mints, Planters Mixed Nuts, Brach’s Bridge Mix, a homemade dessert, and coffee. Everything was served on her fanciest dishes. Many were hand painted by my Grandma Barner. She bought half and half from the milkman for the ladies’ coffee. The next day we got the leftovers. If I got real lucky, Mom let me use the left over half and half on my breakfast cereal. Best cereal ever!
Mom made an ice box cake for the pinochle ladies about a million times. She ordered whipping cream from the milkman and blended the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl until it was light and fluffy. Then she took chocolate wafers that were about three inches in diameter and made a series of whipped cream and chocolate wafer sandwiches. The sandwiches were nestled next to each other forming a log of wafers and whipped cream. When she was done, the log was about a foot long. She spread more whipped cream over the log , covered it with waxed paper, and refrigerated it over night. The wafers absorbed the cream and softened. Overnight refrigeration was the key to success.
If the ladies didn’t scarf down all the cake, we ate the leftovers at dinner the next night. Half and half on my morning cereal, and ice box cake for dessert in the evening, was the recipe for a glorious day put into play by the milkman.