Built in 1908, the Live Oak Creamery was the first butter factory in the Gilroy area, at the center of Santa Clara county’s dairy industry in the early 20th Century. Before this, farmer had to ship their products to other areas to be turned into butter. [1]
The creamery, fitted with the most up-to-date equipment produced high-quality butter and cheese until the 1940s, after which it served a number of purposes, most recently a warehouse and wood shop.
[1] This project of the Historic American Buildings survey was made in conjunction with the County o Santa Clara, California. The project was directed by John Poppeliers, chief of HABS with Ken Anderson, principal architect. The project was completed in the summer of 1979 at the HABS field office at the University of Santa Clara by Sibyl McCormac Groff, project supervisor; R. David Schaaf, architectural supervisor; and student architects W. Michael Coppa, University of Virgina; Jon Lourie, University of Maryland; Anne Munly, Princeton University; John Murphy, Texas Tech University; and Matthew Poe, Virginia Polytechnic Institute. More information is available at the Library of Congress, HABS survey CA-2065