Difference between revisions of "Earl Fruit Company"

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'''Earl Fruit Company'''
 
 
{{Infobox_Industry
 
{{Infobox_Industry
 
| primary_business = Dried Fruit Packer,Fresh Fruit Packer
 
| primary_business = Dried Fruit Packer,Fresh Fruit Packer
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| primary_years = 1880-1910
 
}}
 
}}
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 +
The '''Earl Fruit Company''' was a California-based fruit and vegetable packer and wholesaler.  The company handled fresh and dried fruit, and also handled vegetables.
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Earl Fruit was founded by [[Edwin Tobias Earl]] who had invented the ventilated refrigerator car.  Armour bought the company soon after with Earl keeping a minor ownership role  The company apparently was trying to encourage use of its car fleet, and so rather than act as wholesalers, the company often charged for packing but let the grower get the risk or reward from the fruit sale.  "Growers would bring in their fruit, and Earl would manufacture the boxes and sell them to the grower and pack and sort the fruit, and then ship it for the account of the grower and charge them for the freight in each refrigerated car in addition to the freight charged by the railroad for transportation.  So it was a very, very lucrative business for the Armour family."<ref>Ruth Teiser, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yhMVAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA166&ots=zmAUXaBBua&dq=earl%20fruit%20company%20origins&pg=PA166#v=onepage&q=earl%20fruit%20company%20origins&f=false Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio: The Di Giorgio's: From Fruit Merchants to Corporate Innovators"].  Oral history, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1983.  "The Earl Fruit Company was headed up by a man named E. T. Earl from Sacramento, who owned a small portion of it and who was the manager of a company for the Armour family."</ref>  In 1901, the company provided all supplies and advanced money to Chinese farmers in the Los Angeles area to raise celery
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<ref>George W. Moore, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yhMVAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA166&ots=zmAUXaBBua&dq=earl%20fruit%20company%20origins&pg=PA166#v=onepage&q=earl%20fruit%20company%20origins&f=false History of the Celery Industry].  In Samuel Armor, History of Orange County, California, with Biographical Sketches.  Historic Record Company, 1921.  "(In 1901...) Mr. [E. A.] Curtis bethought himself of the Los Angeles Chinese market gardeners and their knowledge of celery growing, and at once entered into negotiations with a leading Chinaman to undertake the work of growing eighty acres of celery on contract, the Earl Fruit Company to furnish everything, including implements needed in the cultivation of the crop, also money advanced for rental of the land and the supplying of water where needed by digging wells..."</ref>
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The company's fruit was shipped both across the United States and to Europe under its Red Flag trademark<ref>[https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SU19081126.2.4 The Earl Fruit Company: Leading Fruit Shippers.].  November 26, 1908 Sacramento Union.</ref>.  In 1903, pears, peaches, and plums were being shipped from San Jose to Australia<ref>[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6SoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QaQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6087%2C2231066 Our Fruits Find Favor in Markets of the Workd].  August 29, 1903 San Jose Evening News.</ref>.  In 1893, the company shipped 4,000 carloads of fruit<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tBQ1AQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA139&ots=6OemvbBq7-&dq=%22earl%20fruit%20company%22%20sacramento&pg=PA139#v=onepage&q=%22earl%20fruit%20company%22%20sacramento&f=false The Fruit Shipping Industry].  In Sacramento County and Its Resources.  JH. McClatchy and Company, 1895.</ref>.
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An 1897 photo of an orange packing house in Redlands, California states the company's presence in Chicago, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia<ref>[http://www.teachmath.net/Earl%20Family%20Tree/resources/Media_78094956.pdf Earl Fruit Company].  In Illustrated Redlands, 1897.</ref>.
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In 1911, the Supreme Court forced the meat packers to divest their refrigerator cars
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because of their monopoly power. Joseph Di Giorgio of the Di Giorgio
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fruit brokerage business in Baltimore bought the company for access to
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the fresh fruit market<ref>Ruth Teiser, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yhMVAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA166&ots=zmAUXaBBua&dq=earl%20fruit%20company%20origins&pg=PA166#v=onepage&q=earl%20fruit%20company%20origins&f=false Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio: The Di Giorgio's: From Fruit Merchants to Corporate Innovators"].  Oral history, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1983.</ref>.
  
 
==Locations==
 
==Locations==
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|-
 
|-
 
! Location !! Years !! Address !! Details
 
! Location !! Years !! Address !! Details
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|-
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| Locke  ||  || River Road || Rented space in Southern Pacific warehouse<ref>[http://www.walnutgrove.com/lockewalk.htm The Community of Locke].  Walking tour.  Walnutgrove.com.</ref>.
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| Winters || 1951 || Abbay St., across tracks from depot.<ref>Winters: Retire Packing Shed. Southern Pacific Western Division Drawing W-1814, August 7, 1951.  In collection at [http://wx4.org/to/foam/sp/maps/drawings/sp_drawings-westn.pdf wx4.org].</ref> ||
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|-
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| Lodi || || ||
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|-
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| Newcastle || 1915 || In freight shed along railroad<ref>[http://www.sacramentohistory.org/search.php?imageid=1494 Earl Fruit Packing Company].  [http://www.sacramentohistory.org Sacramento History Online].  Producer's Fruit is next door, which apparently was another Di Giorgio business.</ref>.
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|-
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| Redlands || 1897 ||  || 100 x 160 foot packing house for oranges<ref>[http://www.teachmath.net/Earl%20Family%20Tree/resources/Media_78094956.pdf Earl Fruit Company].  In Illustrated Redlands, 1897.</ref>
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|-
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| Sacramento || 1908 || 1014 Second Street || Head office<ref>[https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SU19081126.2.4 The Earl Fruit Company: Leading Fruit Shippers.].  November 26, 1908 Sacramento Union.</ref>.
 
|-
 
|-
 
| San Jose || 1892, 1900 || [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bassett%20near%20San%20Pedro,San%20Jose Bassett near San Pedro] ||  
 
| San Jose || 1892, 1900 || [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bassett%20near%20San%20Pedro,San%20Jose Bassett near San Pedro] ||  
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|-
 
|-
 
| San Jose || 1893, 1896, 1902, 1906, 1907 || [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bassett%20Street%20at%20Terraine%20Street,San%20Jose Bassett Street at Terraine Street] ||  
 
| San Jose || 1893, 1896, 1902, 1906, 1907 || [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bassett%20Street%20at%20Terraine%20Street,San%20Jose Bassett Street at Terraine Street] ||  
 
Northeast Corner.
 
Northeast Corner.
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|-
 
|-
 
| San Jose || 1936, 1938 || [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=395a%20North%20First%20Street,San%20Jose 395a North First Street] ||  
 
| San Jose || 1936, 1938 || [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=395a%20North%20First%20Street,San%20Jose 395a North First Street] ||  
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|-
 
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| Winters || 1951 || Abbay St., across tracks from depot.<ref>Winters: Retire Packing Shed. Southern Pacific Western Division Drawing W-1814, August 7, 1951.  In collection at [http://wx4.org/to/foam/sp/maps/drawings/sp_drawings-westn.pdf wx4.org].</ref> ||
 
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Wright || 1911 || On Sunset Park spur (now Wrights Station Road), on north side of road on north side of creek, east of road bridge. || ||
 
| Wright || 1911 || On Sunset Park spur (now Wrights Station Road), on north side of road on north side of creek, east of road bridge. || ||
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==Details==
 
==Details==
  
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Started by Edwin Tobias Earl who invented a ventilated refrigerator
 
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car. Got the Armour company to buy the company. In 1910, the Supreme
 
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Court forced the meat packers to divest their refrigerator cars
 
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because of their monopoly power. Joseph Di Giorgio of the Di Giorgio
 
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fruit brokerage business in Baltimore bought the company for access to
 
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the fresh fruit market.
 
  
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1892, 1902: Edwin K. Collins is manager. "Packers and shippers of green fruit."
 
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[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6SoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QaQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6087%2C2231066 August 29, 1903 San Jose Evening News] gives details of their sales in the season.
 
  
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[http://vasonabranch.blogspot.com/2011/05/earl-fruit-company.html Capsule history]
 
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[http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/digiorgio_family__w.pdf Interview with DiGiorgio family]
 
  
 
[[Category:Bassett Street San Jose]]
 
[[Category:Bassett Street San Jose]]

Revision as of 19:34, 3 December 2016

Summary
Business

Dried Fruit Packer,Fresh Fruit Packer

The Earl Fruit Company was a California-based fruit and vegetable packer and wholesaler. The company handled fresh and dried fruit, and also handled vegetables. Earl Fruit was founded by Edwin Tobias Earl who had invented the ventilated refrigerator car. Armour bought the company soon after with Earl keeping a minor ownership role The company apparently was trying to encourage use of its car fleet, and so rather than act as wholesalers, the company often charged for packing but let the grower get the risk or reward from the fruit sale. "Growers would bring in their fruit, and Earl would manufacture the boxes and sell them to the grower and pack and sort the fruit, and then ship it for the account of the grower and charge them for the freight in each refrigerated car in addition to the freight charged by the railroad for transportation. So it was a very, very lucrative business for the Armour family."[1] In 1901, the company provided all supplies and advanced money to Chinese farmers in the Los Angeles area to raise celery [2]

The company's fruit was shipped both across the United States and to Europe under its Red Flag trademark[3]. In 1903, pears, peaches, and plums were being shipped from San Jose to Australia[4]. In 1893, the company shipped 4,000 carloads of fruit[5].

An 1897 photo of an orange packing house in Redlands, California states the company's presence in Chicago, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia[6].

In 1911, the Supreme Court forced the meat packers to divest their refrigerator cars because of their monopoly power. Joseph Di Giorgio of the Di Giorgio fruit brokerage business in Baltimore bought the company for access to the fresh fruit market[7].

Locations

Location Years Address Details
Locke River Road Rented space in Southern Pacific warehouse[8]. Winters 1951 Abbay St., across tracks from depot.[9]
Lodi
Newcastle 1915 In freight shed along railroad[10].
Redlands 1897 100 x 160 foot packing house for oranges[11]
Sacramento 1908 1014 Second Street Head office[12].
San Jose 1892, 1900 Bassett near San Pedro
San Jose 1893, 1896, 1902, 1906, 1907 Bassett Street at Terraine Street

Northeast Corner.

San Jose 1936, 1938 395a North First Street
Wright 1911 On Sunset Park spur (now Wrights Station Road), on north side of road on north side of creek, east of road bridge.

Photos

Earl Fruit Company, Walnut Grove California State Library, California History Section

Photocopy of photograph (original print in New Almaden Museum) Circa 1885, photographer unknown WEST FLANK AFTER SECOND ADDITION
HABS CAL,43-ALMA,5-5&displayProfile=0 Mine Hill School, Englishtown (with panorama) Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress

Details

References

  1. ↑ Ruth Teiser, Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio: The Di Giorgio's: From Fruit Merchants to Corporate Innovators". Oral history, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1983. "The Earl Fruit Company was headed up by a man named E. T. Earl from Sacramento, who owned a small portion of it and who was the manager of a company for the Armour family."
  2. ↑ George W. Moore, History of the Celery Industry. In Samuel Armor, History of Orange County, California, with Biographical Sketches. Historic Record Company, 1921. "(In 1901...) Mr. [E. A.] Curtis bethought himself of the Los Angeles Chinese market gardeners and their knowledge of celery growing, and at once entered into negotiations with a leading Chinaman to undertake the work of growing eighty acres of celery on contract, the Earl Fruit Company to furnish everything, including implements needed in the cultivation of the crop, also money advanced for rental of the land and the supplying of water where needed by digging wells..."
  3. ↑ The Earl Fruit Company: Leading Fruit Shippers.. November 26, 1908 Sacramento Union.
  4. ↑ Our Fruits Find Favor in Markets of the Workd. August 29, 1903 San Jose Evening News.
  5. ↑ The Fruit Shipping Industry. In Sacramento County and Its Resources. JH. McClatchy and Company, 1895.
  6. ↑ Earl Fruit Company. In Illustrated Redlands, 1897.
  7. ↑ Ruth Teiser, Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio: The Di Giorgio's: From Fruit Merchants to Corporate Innovators". Oral history, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1983.
  8. ↑ The Community of Locke. Walking tour. Walnutgrove.com.
  9. ↑ Winters: Retire Packing Shed. Southern Pacific Western Division Drawing W-1814, August 7, 1951. In collection at wx4.org.
  10. ↑ Earl Fruit Packing Company. Sacramento History Online. Producer's Fruit is next door, which apparently was another Di Giorgio business.
  11. ↑ Earl Fruit Company. In Illustrated Redlands, 1897.
  12. ↑ The Earl Fruit Company: Leading Fruit Shippers.. November 26, 1908 Sacramento Union.
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