Waterloo
Early in 1891, letters received from Los Angeles business magnate Lucky Baldwin spurred talks of a new creamery in the Carson Valley. Local farmers held meetings to discuss the idea, and by summer a wooden creamery building was erected at William Dangberg's ranch. In fall, the new Carson Valley or Douglas County Creamery was placed into operation with the ability to process milk from up to 3,000 cows, with a daily production planned at 1.5 tons of butter and 3 tons of cheese. During 1897, 1.1 million pounds of milk was processed, and butter produced at the creamery won gold medals at the Mid-Winter Expo in San Francisco in 1894, 1903, and 1904.
Meanwhile, a new community known as Waterloo came into being nearby around the Creamery Saloon and later a new hotel built by C.H. Behrman in 1899. The little town's businesses included two blacksmith shops run by Adolph Rohlf and John C. Reimann, a harness shop by Fritz Bassmen, and general store by Isaac Goldstein. Exciting annual events such as a Schützenfest (German festival with target shooting) and Erntefest (harvest) dance were even held at Waterloo, and a post office was granted in 1907. That year an open-air dance pavilion was also built by Henry Luhrs, who had purchased the hotel in 1905.
By 1909, two other creameries had opened in Carson Valley and competition led to a decline in production at the Douglas County. The creamery was closed on May 1, 1914 and that summer all equipment was sold at auction. The old wooden building was apparently later used as a store by Goldstein, with a dwelling on the second floor, but for a number of years has served as little more than a large outbuilding on the surrounding ranch. After the closure of the creamery, Waterloo too faded and after the 1920s was little more than a memory.
