On May 20, 1841 a man by the name of George Berlin purchased 197 acres near Shippenville, Pa from the Holland Land Company for $1.52 per acre. At that point in time he lived in Little York, York County, Pennsylvania. When he moved to Shippenville, Clarion County, Pennsylvania he started a blacksmith shop and started building a house. In 1868 he had a house, a barn, and a few cattle.

August 27, 1877 Paul Berlin Black, one of the originators of Gruber’s Farm, who had already established himself as a horse dealer, took over the farm. Which by this time covered 400 acres. Paul purchased the first Guernsey Bull Calf born in Clarion County, from the Fox Farms in Foxburg, Pennsylvania. With this bull and a few cows he started a herd known as the Golden Guernsey’s.

          John William Martin Gruber took over the farm and all of its belongings from his father in-law, Paul Berlin Black. October 18, 1914. With his son John Paul Gruber Senior, born July 29, 1900, they would start a dairy known as Gruber Farms Dairy.

          Then May 19, 1944, John P. Gruber Sr. and his spouse Cornelia took over the farm now totaling 800 acres. Gruber had earned his Associates Degree in agriculture from Penn State, his father and he would start to form a business they would name Gruber Farms Dairy. In 1954 his spouse and he would build a roadside store called Gruber’s Dairy. Here anyone passing by could purchase milk, ice cream, butter, and other dairy products. Also, John became a member of the Registered Guernsey Cattle Breeding Association and a pioneer in artificial breeding cooperatives.

Gruber’s Dairy at one time supplied the majority of Clarion and Venango Counties with milk. They had five milk trucks that would hold up to 95 cases of milk each. They supplied their products to stores, schools, and the general public.  They had some of the best dairying technology available at the time. In the store, they pasteurized, bottled, cooled, sold, and stored milk and other dairy products. Their herd of cattle consisted of 45 pure breed Guernsey Cows and one pure breed bull.

In the spring of 1981 Gruber’s dairy farm faced a tragedy when their milk barn caught fire and burned to the ground. They lost 75 percent of their herd, and the dairy was forced to go out of business. They turned the store into a garage, and the few cows left, they kept in the lower part of the hay barn. Many places were dependent on Gruber’s for milk. And suffered for a few months, but soon found other farms to purchase from.

         Gruber, John Jr. Personal Interview. Dec. 28, 2001

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