Card of the Day - 2026-05-25

nestle showcard
Henri NESTLE [trade : confectionery : O/S - USA] "Advertising card - milkmaid" (1907?) Un/?

This card is unusual, because the address is 73 Warren Street, New York - which makes it American, and indeed you can find a very similar card to this, but with a white border, which lists their factories as "Christiana, Norway - Edlitz, Austria - Tutbury, England - Fulton, New York"

Now we know that Fulton factory opened in 1907, and that it was part of a globalisation incentive that saw the Swiss company expand into Africa, America, Asia, and Australia. These were vital during the First World War, when blockades saw supplies dwindle and Nestle had signed contacts to supply the forces with condensed milk. At that time several milk producing factories were bought up in all those countries, and they supplied the forces overseas.

The Fulton factory closed in 2003, but there were, and continue to be, Nestle sites in America - seventy nine manufacturing facilities, and an American HQ, based at Arlington since 2017.

As far as 73 Warren Street goes, though, that is more of a mystery. We know it was first owned by the parish of St. George`s Episcopal Church, and that they sold it, to a married couple, in 1890, who, almost immediately, tore down the building and replaced it with a brick and cast iron one, six storeys high. Then they sold it on, to a lawyer, and part owner of a rubber goods company, who we know sublet the rooms, because, lets face it, there were six storeys, to many different retailers of all manner of goods. So it is not inconcievable that in one of these rooms was someone representing the Nestle Company, or maybe someone who just popped over from the factory in Fulton once a week to collect the mail, so that it looked like they had a head office at another address. 

There is something else interesting about this card, and that is the milkmaid, which, I am sure you will agree, was not something New Yorkers were accustomed to encountering. However, it is a link to Nestle`s first ever milk brand, which was "Milkmaid", and which was first sold in 1866