"If you want to be creative and nuts," says Al about being an ice cream guy, "you can be creative and nuts."
In 1915, a Danish buttermaker who had been living and working in Illinois was looking for a new job and a new place to live. This buttermaker, A. M. Nielsen, heard about a need for a buttermaker in Minot, N.D. and decided to take advantage of this opportunity.
On the way to Minot by train Nielsen met the North Dakota state dairy commissioner, who informed him about an opportunity in Rugby, N.D. The Rugby Farmers' Creamery was looking for a manager. Although Nielsen never made it to Minot, North Dakota's refreshing climate convinced Nielsen that Rugby was the place for him.
The first ice cream sold from the Rugby Creamery was in 1916 to a person from Berwick, N.D. Nielsen made that ice cream in a 10-gallon tub packed with salt and ice. At that time a pony delivered the creamy products, but by 1926 ice cream and other dairy products were being shipped over a large area thanks to the invention of refrigerated trucks. Back in the early 1900s, however, gas-powered compressors did not refrigerate the trucks. Trucks kept cool with the help of salt and crushed ice hauled from a local lake.
A. M. Nielsen eventually became the sole owner of the Rugby Creamery company. "Dakota Gold Quality Supreme" was the name for all the products produced at Nielsen's business. During this time, the Rugby Creamery provided customers not only with Dakota Gold dairy products, but also poultry products. In 1931, during the Depression, Nielsen built a poultry plant and often employed over 100 people from the community to prepare poultry and turkeys.
In 1943, A. M. Nielsen's son, Milton, joined the dairy business after graduating from Iowa State University with dairy industry degree. At this time, the creamery started providing pasteurized milk in glass bottles.
In 1953, Milton Nielsen took over the Rugby Creamery after his father passed away.
Under Milton's visions, the Rugby Creamery continued to expand and venture into new areas of Dakota Gold dairy products. In 1960, the creamery started manufacturing cheese to help strengthen the economy of the surrounding area.
During the 1960s, Al Nielsen finally got a taste of the dairy food industry. At the age of 10, Al began "working the milk trucks on Saturday mornings." As he got older he began helping make ice cream products such as popsicles, ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches and Nutty Buddies. Nutty Buddies are like drumsticks, but according to Al, "They're much better than drumsticks!"
By the time Al was a senior in high school he was making ice cream by himself in his father's creamery.
Bev Nielsen, Al's wife and high school sweetheart, can remember times when Al would show off the perks of working at the creamery and poultry plant. While they were dating, Bev received live chicks for a special Easter present. "I raised them in the basement," recalls Bev. Bev laughed as she told the story but also explained how sad she was when her mother made her sell the growing chickens.
Although Bev appreciated the unique gift, she also remembers a time when Al took his poultry power a little too far. Bev and Al's class had to hatch chickens for a school science project. Bev recalls that Al's group was not working very hard on the project, but for some reason his group was the only one that had success. The truth was that Al snuck into the school and replaced his eggs with eggs from hatchery and, of course, chicks appeared.
After graduating in 1969 from Iowa State University with a degree in dairy and food industry, Al became part owner of his father's business. However, in 1978, Cass-Clay Creamery bought the Nielsen family business. Production also stopped later in 1978 because the expansion of the city was forcing Cass-Clay to make some major changes to the plant in Rugby. Instead of making the major physical changes, Cass-Clay decided to halt production at the Rugby creamery.
Al, Bev, and their children „ Marc, Chris and Betsy „ moved to Fargo after Cass-Clay bought the Rugby Creamery. At Cass-Clay, Al became the production coordinator who is responsible for all production in the plant. In 1983, Cass-Clay promoted Al to plant manager and in 1990 he became the vice president of production.