Milk is the liquid gold that launched the Wawa empire, writes Dan Sullivan for Lancaster Farming.

Wawa, Sheetz, Turkey Hill, Rutter’s, Royal Farms, Heritage’s, and Lawson’s all started out in the milk business.

In fact, we live in one of the nation’s leading dairy regions.

Wawa’s founder, entrepreneur George Wood, got into dairy production after moving from New Jersey to Delaware County in 1892.

“He was a descendant of a family that had multiple businesses in and around Philadelphia, and he inherited the textile business from his father,” said descendant Fred Wood.

He bought land and four dairy farms in the vicinity where the new Wawa train station is today. One of those farms became the Wawa Dairy, which opened in 1902.

Before pasteurization, he had doctors certify that his raw milk was made under sanitary conditions and was safe to drink.

The milk was hipped into Philly and distributed to homes under the slogan “Buy Health by the Bottle”.

When Fred Wood’s father, Grahame Wood, returned from World War II, the textile business was starting to wane. In 1964 he decided to open the first Wawa convenience store in Folsom to compete with supermarkets that were signing deals with dairy farms.

Read more about Wawa’s origins in Lancaster Farming.