J. K. Armsby

Summary

Business	Wholesale Commision Merchant
Main Location	Chicago, IL
Active	1865 - 1916
Brands	Porter's Best (dried), Tropic Bird, Orange Blossom (dried), Blue Ribbon (dried), Red Bluff, Bordeaux, Today's canned fruit.

J.K. Armsby, San Jose. From "The Sunsweet Story".

J.K. Armsby, San Jose. From "The Sunsweet Story".

J. K. Armsby was a wholesale grocer formed in Chicago in 1865 that eventually expanded to a dried fruit packer, canner, and major wholesale grocer on the west coast, and was one of the initial companies that formed the California Packing Corporation. As a wholesaler, Armsby both was a broker for producers (representing the California Fruit Canners Association) and a producer of dried and canned fruit for sale. The company grew the Central California Canneries, and ran their own dried fruit packing houses. The company apparently may have moved headquarters to San Francisco at some point.

The company slogan was Armsby's From the Land of Sunshine Fruits", and they produced a wide range of products. A 1910 ad lists some of their stock as dried fruits, canned goods, salmon, nuts, beans, and Hawaiian pineapple. They list plants in Fresno, San Jose, Armona, Visalia, Sanger, Suisun, Marysville, Los Angeles, Gilroy, Yuba City, Stockton, Ventura, and Vancouver WA. The same locations were shown in a 1913 ad.

Armsby was the exclusive agent for the California Fruit Canners Association and Alaska Packers Association for sales for several years. When the CFCA broke off relations, they attempted a buyout of Central California Canneries which failed, but they managed to keep a good business relationship to continue acting as agent for the company. The general manager of the company in San Fracisco was Allen Freeman, who owned Allenoak Manor on Ridge Road in Berkeley; a March 21, 2008 Berkeley Daily Planet article on Allenoke Manor gives additional history.

The company founders were J.K. "Jake" Armsby and George N. Armsby, with Jake the salesman and George the financier. J.K. Armsby was one of the vice presidents of the National Canned Foods and Dried Fruit Brokers Assocation at one point.

Armsby was one of the companies that merged into the California Packing Corporation 1916. Their headquarters building at 101 California Street in San Francisco became the new company's headquarters.

Armsby's San Jose presence was first next to the train station on Ryland Street, but moved in 1900 to a location on Montgomery Street. The 1915 Sanborn map shows it at end of Montgomery next to Lenzen engine facility. The building is labelled as used for dried fruit packing, with fruit bins and boxes, and long siding. Castle Brothers is next door. A contemporary photo shows a three story packing house in corrugated iron. The August 23, 1902 San Francisco Call noted an addition to the warehouse.

Locations

Location	Years	Address	Details
Armona	1910, 1913
Fresno	1910, 1913
Gilroy	1910, 1913
Los Angeles	1910, 1913
Marysville	1910, 1913
San Jose	1896, 1898	Ryland at San Pedro	From 1898 city directory
San Jose	1900, 1904, 1906, 1907	Montgomery at Cinnabar
San Jose	1910, 1918	419 North Montgomery Street	Listed as Little Montgomery Street in directory.
Sanger	1910, 1913
Suisun	1910, 1913
Vancouver, WA	1910, 1913
Ventura	1910, 1913
Visalia	1910, 1913
Yuba City	1910, 1913