Clifford Y. Stephens (1891 – April 1971) was the owner of

High's Dairy Store High's of Baltimore, LLC, doing business as High's, is a chain of gas stations and convenience stores in and around Baltimore, Maryland. , the chain has 60 locations, the majority of which are in Maryland, plus three in Delaware. At one time, H ...

. Stephens started out as a farmer and dairyman. He attended Iowa State University and graduated in 1925 working locally. Later he worked for

Pet A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...

in Greensboro North Carolina. At the peak of the depression in 1933, he bought controlling interest in the Washington-based High's Dairy Products Corporation. With a $1,800 loan he operated ten ice cream stores and a plant at 1326 Half Street SE in Washington. In 1941, Stephens took over as sole owner of the High's Dairy Store Corporation. Stephens opened plants in Washington and Frederick to process milk. The Frederick plant opened in 1959 with a production capacity of 100,000 gallons daily. He became active in politics regarding milk cooperatives, creating "Marylander for Milk Freedom" in 1959 to oppose price controls on state milk production. In 1961, Stephens created the East Coast Ice Cream Novelty Company which constructed a large ice cream manufacturing plant on

Whiskey Bottom Road Whiskey Bottom Road is a historic road north of Laurel, Maryland that traverses Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Anne Arundel and Howard County, Maryland, Howard Counties in an area that was first settled by English colonists in the mid-1600s. The ...

. The plant in later years would be expanded to become the second-largest ice cream plant on the east coast, operated by Nestle, with the offices later becoming the Phillips School for students with cognitive, emotional, social learning or behavioral challenges. Stephens became a trustee of

Hood College Hood College is a private college in Frederick, Maryland. In fall 2018, Hood enrolled 2,052 students (1,092 undergraduate students; 960 graduate students). Thirty-eight percent of students are either members of under-represented racial or ethni ...

in Frederick and

Glenelg Country School Glenelg Country School is a nonsectarian, co-educational independent day school in Howard County, Maryland, adjacent to Columbia, Maryland and between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The School offers a continuous college-preparatory program from ...

. In 1962, he donated all of his stock to his alma mater, the

Campus of Iowa State University The Iowa State University campus contains over 160 buildings, several of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

which in turn named an auditorium after him. The Capitol Milk Producers of Frederick repurchased the stock, retaining Stephens as president. In 1962, Senator Frank E. Shipley bypassed the state school board nominating commission recommendation of Fred Schoenbrodt, and installed C.Y. Stephens. In October 1963, Stephens was indicted with multiple milk producers for price fixing between 1956 and 1960. A month later, Stephens died outside of

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

in an automobile collision on the Severn River Bridge on 29 November 1963. *Stephens Road in North Laurel is named after C.Y. Stephens

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Clifford Y. 1891 births 1963 deaths People from Laurel, Maryland

See also

References