John P. Case Collection (Naperville)

John P. Case was born on March 26, 1897 near York Center, Illinois.  Educated at the University of Illinois and Hamilton Law School, Case completed a master’s degree and became a successful dairy farmer operating 470 acres of land in DuPage County, Illinois. As member and director of the Chicago Milk Producer’s Association John Case was among those who pioneered the idea of creating a dairy producer’s cooperative to improve dairy standards, increase product sales, and encourage dairy farmer cooperation.  The result of their efforts was the incorporation of the Pure Milk Association (PMA), an organization eventually recognized nationally as one of the most successful milk producer’s cooperatives in the United States. In the twenty years that Case was active in the PMA, he served as district director representing the marketing interests of dairy farmers in DuPage County from 1931 to 1951.  In 1933, Case served as the treasurer for the association and, in 1935, he was elected president, a position he held until 1938. In addition to his dairy interest, Case became involved in the production of hybrid seed corn in the Naperville area.  In 1938 Case,along with two other local farmers, established the Northern Illinois Seed Growers Inc. to produce and develop hybrids.  The company changed its name to North Corn Belt in 1939 and in 1943 it became part of the Pfister’s Associated Growers (PAG), an organization which maintained several hybrid seed corn-producing plants throughout seven states in the cornbelt country.  John Case served as president of the association until 1966. Case’s established reputation as a national leader in the dairy and seed industries qualified him for executive positions in other ag-related organizations.  Included were the following: Director of the DuPage Tuberculosis Association (1940), President of the DuPage County Board of Health (1951), Director of the Holstein-Friesian Association of America (1952), and President of the Illinois Association of Boards of Health (1962).  Case continued his business responsibilities and agricultural operations until his death on July 26, 1975. In 1922, John Case married Esther Penfold of Lombard, Illinois.  They had five children who all settled in the DuPage County area.

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