Dossier: Daisy Frink, Creamery Worker & Female Co. President Ahead of her Time
- Robin Kring
- Oct 11, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 12, 2025
Sleuthing Brighton Colorado, with a full Investigative Report by the Brighton History Detective (aka Robin Kring)
Case Number: 00010, Identify Mural Subject
Mural Location: “Historic Brighton at Founders Plaza” by Hans Joseph Geist
Subject Identified Daisy Frink, Creamery Worker and president Fort Lupton Canning
DAISY FRINK (1881-1972), Creamery Worker and Later Company president, is shown (c. 1906) when she worked in the Silver State Creamery in Brighton. It was located on Division St. (now N. Main St.), about 400 ft. north of the UP Boulder-Branch railroad tracks.
Artist Geist's Inspiration
The following 1906 photo, taken inside the Silver State Creamery, inspired artist Hans Geist's painting of “Daisy,” born Marguerite Ruth Frink. She is holding a Cheese Curd Cutter (or knife) in one hand and a cheese rake over her shoulder. Both were used to immerse into vats of milk during different stages of the cheese making process. Behind her is a milk jug. Daisy regularly filled a 10-gallon jug to collect and weigh each farmer's milk delivered early mornings. She said it weighed 86 lbs. — and that she weighed 87 lbs. (which required a helper to lift). It was one of the rare tasks she couldn't totally perform by herself. She even fired the boiler and shoveled many tons of coal each morning.
The Many Names of Brighton's Creamery
Daisy's father, Orello Eugene (O.E.) first opened the Brighton creamery as the Frink Cheese Factory in 1899. It was then renamed Silver State Creamery, to coincide with a name change the Frinks made to their Fort Lupton creamery, after adding a canning factory, named Silver State Canning & Produce Co. The company canned tomatoes, catsup, and corn. Gradually, more products were added, including snap beans, peas, pickles, pumpkin, and squash. The retail
labels varied, incl: National, Ruby, Seal, Baby, Fort Lupton, and Overland,
In 1916 after O.E. Frink died, his son Clarence Benjamin (C.B.) Frink, took over all the Frink creameries (Ft. Lupton, Brighton, and surrounding areas) and formed Frink Dairy Co., a producing company. CB also partnered with the son of O.A. Carlson, Charles Gustaf “C.G.” Carlson, to form Carlson-Frink Creamery in Larkspur, Colo. Carlson-Frink later became the Sinton Dairy, Inc. in Denver.
In 1921, CB built a large manufacturing addition. It produced up to 6,000 lbs. of cheese a day (using 60,000 lbs. of milk supplied from local dairy farms). In 1946 after CB Frink dies, Philip A. Ruebel (former business partner) & his son Philip Ruebel bought the Frink interest and reorganized as the Northern Dairy Company.
The Fort Lupton Canning Company
After the death of O.E. Frink in 1916, Blaney (the broker of O.E.) reorganized the Fort Lupton canning company, Silver State Canning & Produce Co., as the Fort Lupton Canning Company. Daisy was appointed Secretary and Treasurer; Blaney was appointed president and Otto Alfred (O.A.) Carlson as manager.
After Blaney died in 1936, Daisy was made president, holding this title until her death in 1972, when her son Benjamin Frink Counter became president. Benjamin VanKelsey Carlson were given an active leadership in the company after they returned from military service in WWII. They had both worked in the factory at 12 yrs. old through their late teens.
The Overland Oxen Team
O.E. had devised the idea to drive the oxen team to and from the Fort Lupton Canning Company factory to the train depot, in order to advertise his canning company's Overland brand. Typically driven by farmer Johnnie Burns, the marketing ploy really made news when Daisy, herself, drove the team one year at the Denver Stock Show,
Frink's Sharecropping Legacy
Not only did the businesses of O.E. Frink flourish during his lifetime and after, but many farm laborers, including several Issei (first generation Japanese) families, credit Frink with helping them to own and start their own farms. O.E. offered sharecropping opportunities on his farmland and helped these growers find credit for seed and farm machinery. Frink then bought their produce and processed it.
There's More to Daisy's Story
A note from the author: For years, I stopped my story of Daisy here. I was so impressed with a woman ahead of her time, working as a skilled cheesemaker and then advancing to the President of a prosperous canning company. So, imagine my excitement when I newly discovered some of the most amazing parts of her life story hidden in a small museum. Read the Brighton History Detective Dossier: Daisy, An Amazing Victorian Woman Ahead of Her Time.
©2023-2025 Robin Kring, including excerpts from A Postcard History of Brighton
Discover More About the Artist and the Detective
Learn more about the Artist, Hans Joseph Geist, behind the Historic Brighton at Founders Plaza mural, in the Brighton History Detective dossier, The Case of the New Mural and its Artist (Hans Joseph Geist). See more of Hans art at: Art by Hans Geist on Facebook.
Find more Investigative Case Reports, by Brighton History Detective, each revealing the identity of one of the 20 intriguing Brighton characters and places, painted on the mural. Investigate the sleuthing and writing stories of yesteryear, mystery, and intrigue on the Clear Creek Publishing Authors Blog site, including: New Fiction, Victoriana, Event Planning Extraordinaire, Colorado History, and Cemetery Chats.
The Historic Brighton at Founders Plaza mural is located on the southwest corner of Main St. and Bridge St., in Brighton, Colorado. The mural is a project of the Brighton Cultural Arts Commission, whose mission is to increase arts and culture awareness and promote cultural and scientific opportunities in our community. It has been made possible with funding from the SCFD and Brighton Lodging Tax Grants.
