It’s become commonplace to have almost anything we need or want delivered to our front doors. Groceries from Peapod, Grubhub, Uber Eats, DoorDash and everything else from Amazon. Anyone growing up during the 2000’s, no doubt sees these deliveries as a marvel of today’s world. However, when you look at the memories of Rochester residents who grew up at any time from the 1920’s to the 60’s, there are multiple references to the many tradesmen who brought their wares to customers’ doors. In one of the Rochester Journals, Dan Charron wrote about the many salesmen who sold items door to door.
Probably the first who would come to mind (and probably lasted the longest) would be the milkman. The picture with this article shows the Eastover Farm milk truck. Some local dairies that delivered milk (and if asked other dairy products) to town were Gibbs, Eastover Farm and Gulf Hill. Customers often had insulated boxes into which the milk was placed. The empty glass bottles went back onto the milk truck to be cleaned and reused.
Another salesman that Dan mentioned was the Cushman Bakery man. In his black and white truck, there were breads and pastries including delicious little pink and white frosted teacakes. Our oldest residents probably remember the ice man who delivered blocks of ice door to door before refrigerators to up residents were in most homes. Another tradesman of that era was the ragman. He would pick up old clothes and rags (without pink plastic bags.) Dan also remembers that the insurance man would go around door to door to collect payments and sign up clients. There was a Raleigh salesman who had cases that contained much of what we would find in today’s CVS or Walgreen’s. The Fuller Brush Man and the Electrolux man would bring brooms, vacuums and other cleaning tools right to your door. Dan Charron wrote that his favorite of all of these salesmen was the man in an old yellow bus who sold just about everything from pots and pans to tools and gadgets. He would also sharpen your knives and scissors. You could also get food right at your door. The fish man (Mr. Bassett) had a truck with a scale and a bed full of ice from which he sold fish. There was a man who had a weekly grocery route.
While the method we use today to arrange for items to arrive at our doors are different, the whole concept of home delivery has been around for many years, but it would seem porch pirates are a new wrinkle.
By Connie Eshbach