Code-Portwood Canning Company

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Summary
Business

Cannery
Main Location

Oakland
Active

1868-1914
Brands

Cuckoo, Cruiser[1], All Gold, Premium, Fruitvale, May Sweet, Alvarado, Claremont[2], Alpine, Alamo, Silver, Shasta, Pride[3]
Aliases

Cole-Portwood Canning Company
Successors

H.G. Prince

Code-Portwood Canning Company was a San Francisco and Oakland-based canner and jam maker, supposedly started in 1867[4]. Code was also known for bottling ketchup in 1868[5]. In 1902, Philip D. Code was the president of the company, with offices at 101 Front St. in San Francisco and the factory at the corner of 10th and Bryant in San Francisco[6][7]. In 1899, Code-Portwood apparently considered joining the California Fruit Canners Association combine[8].

Philip D. Code, the principal of the company, was born in England in 1842, naturalized in 1876, and was living in San Francisco in 1880, listing his occupation as "canning fruit".

Code-Portwood was apparently known in the 1890's as "Code, Elfelt & Co"; Elfelt had retired by 1894[9] In 1897, the company had financial difficulties when Anglo-California Bank suddenly revoked the company's line of credit[10]. James A. Code ran the company at that time.

The company opened a plant in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland after the 1906 San Francisco Great Earthquake and Fire[11]. That plant had been planned before the earthquake, with an announcement in December 1905[12] but the San Francisco plant did appear to be destroyed in the earthquake[13]. In 1913, the company requested better wharf facilities on Oakland so it could load its products into ships on the east side of the bay[14]. By 1913, they listed themselves as headquartered in Fruitvale, Oakland[15].

The company was sold to one of its officers by 1914 and became H.G. Prince & Co[16].

Locations

Location Years Address Details
Fruitvale 1912-1914 Became H. G. Prince.
San Francisco 1878 125 Davis St.[17]
San Francisco 1878 314 Washington St.[18]
San Francisco 1902 101 Front Street offices, warehouse?
San Francisco 1902 10th and Bryant factory

References

  1. ↑ Mida's Trade-Mark Register of Canned Goods, 1906, Criterion Publishing Company, Chicago
  2. ↑ Advertisement: Official Year Book of the California State Federation of Labor, 1913.
  3. ↑ San Francisco: Her Great Manufacturing, Commercial, and Financial Institutions..., 1904, Pacific Arts Co.
  4. ↑ San Francisco: Her Great Manufacturing, Commercial, and Financial Institutions..., 1904, Pacific Arts Co. "Founded in 1867 as P. D. Code & Co, incorporated in 1898. H. G. Prince was a director in 1904.
  5. ↑ Andrew F. Smith, Pure Ketchup: A History of America's National Condiment, with Recipes. University of South Carolina Press. "In 1926, CalPak acquired the H.G. Prince Co. and hence CalPak can trace its roots to both of California's first canners."
  6. ↑ Code-Portwood Canning Co.: 1902 Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory
  7. ↑ Picture of one site in King's Handbook of the United States, Moses King Publishers, Buffalo New York, 1891.
  8. ↑ Few Canned Fruit Sales: July 12, 1899 Boston Evening Transcript.
  9. ↑ 1893 San Francisco City Directory. Philip Code ran the company, James Code was superintendent, Charles Code was assistant superintendent.
  10. ↑ Future of the Firm: Committee of Code, Elfelt, & Co's Creditors Will Report To-Morrow: August 1, 1897 San Francisco Call. Anglo-California Bank suddenly revoked the company's line of credit, leading to questions about whether the company could continue.
  11. ↑ Help Wanted: Women and Girls to Work On Fruit: August 12, 1906 San Francisco Call. Lists "new cannery at Fruitvale, a summer outing".
  12. ↑ Alameda County News: December 16, 1905 San Francisco Call: "The Code-Portwood Canning Company has made application for a permit to erect a cannery to cost $30,000 not including equipment at Railroad and Twenty-eighth Avenues."
  13. ↑ General Merchandise: July 5, 1906 Adelaide (Australia) Advertiser: "According to the San Francisco mail advises, the destruction of the following fruit canneries is reported: ... Code Portwood Cannery, with a capacity of 125,000 cases, was wrecked by earthquake."
  14. ↑ Canning Company May Get Wharf Facilities: July 15, 1913 San Francisco Call.
  15. ↑ Advertisement: Official Year Book of the California State Federation of Labor, 1913.
  16. ↑ Canned Foods: January 24, 1914: "A contrivance has been invented by Arthur Duncan, manager of H. G. Prince & Co., successor to Code Portwood Canning Co....
  17. ↑ 1878 San Francisco Phone directory. From westernbitters.com.
  18. ↑ 1878 San Francisco Phone directory. From westernbitters.com.
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