Rosenberg Brothers
| Business |
Dried Fruit Packer |
|---|---|
| Main Location |
San Francisco, CA |
| Active |
1893-1947 |
| Predecessors |
H.E. Losse and Company |
| Successors |
Consolidated Grocers, Mayfair Packing, Bonner Packing |
Rosenberg Brothers was a major San Francisco-based dried fruit packer. The company was started in 1893 by Max Rosenberg, Abraham Rosenberg, and Adolph Rosenberg to pack and ship California fruit to the east. The brothers were Californians, born to German immigrant parents who had arrived in the 1850's[1]. The "Sunsweet Story" refers to them as "the most successful of the speculative packers"[2], commenting on their business model of buying fruit and hoping it would sell for more when actually sold.
The company had packing houses in the Santa Clara Valley, Oregon, the Sacramento Valley, and San Joaquin Valley, and bought and sold several kinds of dried fruits. A 1911 ad in California Fruit News shows they packed dried fruit and raisins.
The last of the original brothers died in 1931; Arthur C. Oppenheimer ran the company for many years, but died in 1950.[3]. The company survived independently until December 1947 when it was bought by a Consolidated Grocers Corp. of Chicago[4]. Rosenberg stayed as a separate company but a subsidiary of Consolidated Grocers, while United States Products, a San Jose canner, became part of the canning arm and lost its independent name[5].
Rosenberg Brothers finally went out of business in 1957. Mayfair Packing bought the dried fruit and walnut operations, Bonner Packing bought the raisin business, and Trico bought Rosenberg's almond business.
Rosenberg Brothers was a particularly strong competitor:[6]
"Oppenheimer was generally regarded as sort of a genius among the proprietary packers. Unquestionably, he was the most successful of the speculative packers, and he was similarly successful in the other commodity fields in which the Rosenberg firm specialized: tree nuts, rice, beans, and honey. In the case of dried fruits, his practice was to circulate propaganda in the orchard districts, mainly through his buyer-fieldmen, to convince growers that economic conditions at the time would justify only a low field price. He frequently succeeded in depressing the field market, when he would buy all of the fruit his firm required. He would then get the packers together to elicit their support of some kind of a scheme he had devised to strengthen the market for packed goods. He succeeded remarkably, usually remaining personally in the background of these activities, but often persuading the other packers to fall into line and to address grower meetings and otherwise to convince growers that they were doing all they could for the growers. It was common knowledge in the dried fruit industry that at one period, Rosenberg Bros. and Company accumulated supplies from three successive crops before a favorable wholesale market developed that enabled the firm to make its speculation pay off handsomely. The object of all this, of course, was to buy low and sell high."
Rosenberg Brothers in San Jose
Rosenberg Brothers had a long-time presence in the San Jose and Santa Clara area, moving between packing houses many times.
An early location was on Ryland Street, at the west end of the street in a former C. M. Webber warehouse. Rosenberg's building had significant machinery and even had overhead shafting to power some equipment[7]. A fire on morning of November 10, 1906 burned that plant to the ground[8]. George Hyde was the manager. The night watchman was feared burned, but he turned out to be safe as he'd been at home sick for several nights[9] The fire burned several thousand tons of prunes - 50 freight cars worth. 11 full cars burned, and two warehouses; the fire was encouraged by 5000 gallons of crude oil[10]. The building itself supposedly belonged to Mrs. J. C. Webber of Chicago
The Ryland Street fire chased Rosenberg Brothers away, both north of downtown to Stockton Ave.[11] and to the west side of San Jose. Their new plant was in the former Santa Clara Valley Fruit Exchange on the northwest corner of Auzerais and Sunol St., with Orrin Harlan as manager in 1908. There was a lumberyard was across Sunol Street, and Standard Oil across the railroad tracks[12].
Another fire on August 7, 1915 destroyed the Sunol Street plant according to the August 7, 1915 San Jose Evening News. The manager at the time was H. M. Barngrover. Rosenberg Brothers had been located in the Santa Clara Valley Fruit Exchange warehouse, a large brick building with multiple firewalls. Rosenberg was leasing; lost "many dried apricots and some prunes". The loss to the firm at $300,000. The fire started in pile of apricot pits near the tracks. 5000 gallons of fuel oil still burning in the tank at noon the next day. Fire was blamed on IWW, supposedly threats had been made[13]. Later news reports blamed an International Workers of the World supporter, according to October 2, 1915 Sausalito News.
After the Sunol St. fire, Rosenberg Brothers took over the former California Cured Fruit Association warehouse] next to the Santa Clara depot in 1916[14].
The company bought H.E. Losse and Company in 1917.
Details of a 1921 lawsuit over farmer who did not deliver contracted prunes appeared in the March 26, 1921 Pacific Rural Press
Locations
| Location | Years | Address | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edenvale | 1922 | "One mile away from Richmond Chase plant at Edenvale station"[15] | Receiving station |
| Fresno | 1922 | Broadway Street | South end. Largest raisin packing operation in world in 1920's[16]. |
| Medford | None | Medford: Spur historically named after Rosenberg Brothers on topoquest.com | |
| San Francisco | 1906 | 211-213 California Street | Burned in 1906 earthquake[17] |
| San Francisco | 1912 | 153 California Street | |
| San Francisco | 275 Brannan St. | Warehouse. From History of Rincon Hill. | |
| San Jose | 1906 | Ryland Street near San Pedro St. | Burned Nov. 10, 1906. |
| San Jose | 1907 | West San Carlos St.[18] | Former Luehning packing house[19]. |
| San Jose | 1907-1915 | Sunol Street at Auzerais St. | Northwest corner. Burned August 1915[20]. |
| Santa Clara | 1917, 1927 | Railroad Avenue | Shows up in City Directory in 1917. |
| Talent, Oregon | None | ||
| Winters, CA | 1951 | Main St.[21] | |
| Yuba City | 1903 |
Photos
Rosenberg Brothers packing house, Yuba City. From U.C. Libraries.
Rosenberg Brothers packing house near Medford, Oregon.
References
- ↑ History of the Rosenberg Foundation
- ↑ Robert Couchman, The Sunsweet Story, 1967, Sunsweet Growers
- ↑ The Sunsweet Story
- ↑ Sunsweet Story describes it as "major postwar change in independent packer ownership"
- ↑ New York Times, May 25, 1951
- ↑ Robert Couchman, The Sunsweet Story, 1967, Sunsweet Growers.
- ↑ Hair Caught In Moving Shafting: September 19, 1905 San Jose Evening News]
- ↑ San Jose Visited by the Most Damaging Fire In Its History: November 11, 1906 Sunday Mercury and Herald. The underground tank stored a "tank car of oil".
- ↑ San Jose Evening News, November 10, 1906
- ↑ November 11, 1915 Los Angeles Herald.
- ↑ March 5, 1907: San Jose Evening News: Rosenberg Brothers have bought a lot on Stockton Ave
- ↑ August 7, 1915 San Jose Evening News report on fire in 1915
- ↑ Rosenberg Co. Plant Is Burned: August 8, 1915 San Jose Mercury News
- ↑ Santa Clara city history.
- ↑ Other Growing Towns in Santa Clara County: History of Santa Clara County history, 1922
- ↑ John Reynolds and Michael J. Semas, Frenso, Arcadia Publishing, 20xx.
- ↑ Lawsuit over building mentioned in January 1907 San Francisco Call .
- ↑ 1907-8 San Jose city directory lists location as "West San Carlos St. 1 west of Los Gatos Creek."
- ↑ San Jose Visited by the Most Damaging Fire In Its History: November 11, 1906 Sunday Mercury and Herald. "The first of this year, they leased the Luehning warehouse at San Carlos and the narrow gauge, and today arrangements were made to transfer all business of the destroyed plant to that place."
- ↑ Rosenberg Co. Plant Is Burned: August 8, 1915 San Jose Mercury News
- ↑ Southern Pacific engineering drawing W-1811, Winters Proposed Section Quarters, July 2, 1951. From wx4.org / Dome of Foam.