Credit: American Stock Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images Theresa Domagalski

Historical Insights The Wisconsin Milk Strike

Since more than 70 percent of Wisconsin farmland was devoted to dairy, the bottomed-out milk prices destroyed the state’s economy. About 1935, USA. Credit: American Stock Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images

The Wisconsin Milk Strike

In the depths of the Great Depression, Wisconsin farmers took up arms to save their farms by raising dairy prices.

Theresa Domagalski

1908–2005

paternal grandmother

Theresa Domagalski lived in Portage, Wisconsin during the Great Depression, when Wisconsin’s mainstay dairy industry was shattered. *

* Insight to be reviewed

Other relatives

{{count}} of your family members lived in Wisconsin when dairy farmers were striking in protest of low milk prices.

As Wisconsin struggled through the Great Depression in the 1930s, many of the state’s 125,000 dairy farmers were left impoverished when the price of milk plummeted by 30 percent. As their farms fell like dominoes to foreclosure, dairy producers fought back. Strikers set up roadblocks to prevent deliveries, pouring out hundreds of thousands of gallons of milk. Convoys responded by guarding their precious cargo, attacking strikers with heavy objects, including horseshoes. “Strikers threw rocks,” one witness recalled, “tossed back bombs that had not exploded, and thick clouds of smoke hung over the combatants.” Despite a spring march of 5,000 farmers on the state’s capital, the violence continued, spreading fear of an insurrection across the country as newspapers spread the word. But in the end, the fight remained too localized to affect national milk prices. By November the strike had collapsed before the dairy farmers’ demands had been met, but not before claiming the lives of three. It would take a decade for the dairy market in Wisconsin to recover.

Media Gallery

The strike cost Wisconsin dearly—estimates point to $10 million in property destroyed and millions of gallons of milk spilt.
The strike cost Wisconsin dearly—estimates point to $10 million in property destroyed and millions of gallons of milk spilt. About 1935, USA. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
Most of the strikers owned farms that produced milk for dairy products like cheese and butter. They were paid less per gallon than farmers who produced milk for drinking, pitting the two against each other.
Most of the strikers owned farms that produced milk for dairy products like cheese and butter. They were paid less per gallon than farmers who produced milk for drinking, pitting the two against each other. April 30, 1931, USA. Credit: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Newspapers across the region covered the strike as the events unfolded. Their coverage made the strike sound like a war had broken out. Some even feared a full-fledged revolution was brewing.
Newspapers across the region covered the strike as the events unfolded. Their coverage made the strike sound like a war had broken out. Some even feared a full-fledged revolution was brewing. May 16, 1933, Marshall, Michigan. Credit: Marshall Evening Chronicle/Newspapers.com