Cloud is well positioned to know those facts. He spent about 14 years there, helping to produce ice cream sandwiches, Eskimo Pies and other frozen treats.

The Fort Dodge man has authored a book about how the facility in downtown was a prime producer of frozen goodies for much of the Midwest.

Cloud began working there in the fall of 1973 and stayed until the creamery closed in December 1987.

The creamery building still stands at Third Street and First Avenue North. It was known as the Fort Dodge Creamery or the Rosedale Creamery because Rosedale was the brand name of some of the early products made there.

But when Cloud worked there, the company name was Ice Cream Specialities.

The treats that Cloud and his co-workers made went to Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota and Nebraska. He recalled that for awhile the facility made Twin Pops that were shipped to California.

“They had a big business at one time,” Cloud said. “They were the only one making ice cream novelties.”

The closing of the creamery at the end of 1987 was not a surprise to the workers. Cloud recalled that the company lost its contracts to make Eskimo Pies and Heath bars.

“It was a slow, miserable death,” he said.

But in the years before the doors closed for the final time, Cloud and his co-workers kept the frozen goodies flowing. He recalled that every year, the creamery started getting busy in March and the work really ramped up during the hot summer months.

He said his favorite memory of working at the plant was just the variety of things he did during a day or a week.

After the creamery closed, Cloud went to work in the gypsum mills. He is now retired.

Local historian Roger Natte asked Cloud to write down his memories of his days at the ice cream facility.

Cloud said when he began writing, he “just started at random.’

The writing process, he said, brought back “all kinds of good memories.”

The finished book includes photos of creamery and its products. It also has still images from a film local broadcaster Ed Breen made of the ice cream operation for his TV series “This Is Fort Dodge.”

Cloud said he began working on the book in 2020. The project was completed in May.

• Al Cloud will sign copies of his book about creamery and Ice Cream Specialties from 10 a.m. to noon June 28 in the Fort Dodge Public Library by the City Square.

Items from the creamery and other local dairies will be on display.