Even before the Tillamook County Creamery Association’s (TCCA) founding in 1909, its hometown of Tillamook, Ore., was innovating ways to bring dairy to the masses.
That’s how the brand’s ship logo on each package came to be: Tillamook County dairy farmers in the mid-1800s struggled to deliver their cheese and butter products to Portland across rough, mountainous terrain, so they looked to the water for a path forward, the company says. After trial, error, and a few unfortunate wrecks, these dairy farmers had themselves a seaworthy ship ready for the journey. It was dubbed The Morning Star of Tillamook on January 1, 1855, and soon began the journey to deliver its first batch of Tillamook dairy to Portland, by way of the Columbia River.
Now in 2025, TCCA is continuing the legacy of The Morning Star on its package with a new ice cream manufacturing plant in Decatur, Ill. The expansion is TCCA’s first facility outside of Oregon and comes about eight years after TCCA’s 2017 decision to grow its reach beyond the Western U.S. It also follows ice cream sales of about 27 million gallons in the U.S. in 2024 alone, reaching around 15 million households, says David Booth, TCCA President and CEO.
David Booth, President and CEO of TCCA, kicked off the opening day by explaining the company's growth strategy in the ice cream space.ProFood World
“You would think a majority of that was in the Western part of the U.S., but honestly, today, we sell more to households in the Eastern U.S.,” says Booth. “You can see the importance of building this facility in Decatur, to get closer to our customers and consumers, it’s so important.”
