The Cushing Creamery Company got its start on June 11, 1912, with the incorporation of the Cushing Creamery Association. Located in Cushing, Minnesota, a town in northwestern Morrison County, the co-operative creamery turned milk and cream from local farmers into butter, dried milk and buttermilk. After the first creamery buildings were destroyed by fire, the creamery was rebuilt by A. J. Pogatchnick in 1928 as an independent creamery, the Cushing Creamery Company. In 1942, after the United States government requested that local creameries begin making dry milk and cheese to send to servicemen overseas, the company began making cheese. The company produced cheese until the end of World War II. According to an article in the January 30, 1950 issue of the Little Falls Daily Transcript, the creamery was housed in a small white and red building, the color of the serving dish and letter opener. By 1950, the company was purchasing cream from about 170 patrons in the Cushing area and was churning about 250,000 pounds of butter per year. Most of the butter was purchased by First National Stores of Summerville, Massachusetts, which owned 1300 supermarkets. The Cushing Creamery Company closed seven years later, in September 1957.
The Cushing Creamery Company serving dish and letter opener were donated by the Family of Emil Carlson. Emil Carlson lived in Cushing, Minnesota, from 1893 until his death in 1950.
