"The Days Had Come of Curds and Cream".

This paper explores the earliest production of cream cheese by postcolonial Philadelphia farm families. It examines how changes in American cuisine and demographics produced the demand for "fancy" cheeses in the late nineteenth century. It shows how mechanization transformed the dairy industry as it moved from its pastoral period into the industrial Age. This paper also traces how these changes resulted in large-scale cream cheese manufacturing efforts in the late 1870s. Finally, the critical role played by William A. Lawrence, a Chester, NY farmer, who was the first manufacturer of cream cheese in America, is also detailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]