Virden Packing

Summary

Business	Cannery
Main Location	San Francisco
Active	1919-1930

Virden Packing was a meat and fruit canner and fruit packer with origins in Sacramento but eventually headquartered in San Francisco. The company had major stockyards in South San Francisco (next to Swift) and supposedly Sacramento. The Virden Company was incorporated in 1919. They bought several canneries in the next two years, including Western Canning in Emeryville from chinese interests, United Canneries of Oakland, and the then-idle Salsina_Packing_and_Canning_Company on Lincoln Ave. in San Jose the same year. The company had primarily been in the meat packing business until they purchased Western Canning in spring 1921. An ad in the May 1922 Western Canner and Packer described themselves as "A New California Packer"

The company appeared to hit a hard patch in the mid 1920's, and ended up selling off the various canneries - Western to Del Monte, Salsina to Balfour-Guthrie (supposedly).

Charles Virden, the founder, had been general manager of California Fruit Distributors for several years at Sacramento. Two other early employees - Lanev and Mullen - were part of the Sunlit Fruit Company which had been absorbed by the California Packing Corporation.

One possible story is that Virden picked up cheap canneries during the great bust after World War I, but wasn't able to earn enough to cover the debt as prices stayed poor through the 1920's.

Locations

Location	Years	Address	Details
Elmhurst	1922, 1926	Foot of 85th Street.
Emeryville	1919, 1922, 1926, 1927	Park Ave
Fruitvale	1925, 1926, 1927	1100 29th Street	Became Del Monte.
Lindsay	1922, 1926
Marysville	1922, 1926	520 Olive Street	Still exists.
Oroville	1922, 1926		Used by Hearst to pack 1926 crop of peaches.
Sacramento	1922
San Francisco	1922
San Jose	1926, 1928, 1932	868 Auzerais Street
South San Francisco	1932

Photos

San Jose plant plan

Details

Virden Packing was a meat and fruit canner and fruit packer focused on Sacramento and the Central Valley but with offices in San Francisco. The company had major stockyards in South San Francisco (next to Swift) and supposedly Sacramento. The Virden Company was incorporated in 1919 and bought Western Canning in Emeryville from "chinese interests". The company and Charles E. Virden appeared to have been in the business previously with his own company as well as running Virden Packing. The company had primarily been in the meat packing business until they purchased Western Canning in spring 1921. An ad in the May 1922 Western Canner and Packer described themselves as "A New California Packer".

One possibility: California Packing Corp mergers encouraged others to band together.

Virden company was incorporated in 1919 according to Canning Age . Another possibility is that the collapse of prices in 1920/1921 opened the door for some cheap purchases of canneries.

Virden had been general manager of California Fruit Distributors for several years at Sacramento. Two other early employees - Lanev and Mullen - were part of the Sunlit Fruit Company which had been absorbed by the California Packing Corporation. Was Sacramento Chamber of Commerce president in 1919 when East Sacramento Tennis club was opened. Died 23 Jan 1932.

Western Canner and Packer had 1921 article on company's marketing.

National Provisioner magazine of 1922 identified annual meeting, said company was based in San Francisco but Charles E. Virden was from Sacramento. Virden moved to Sanb Francisco in 1921 according to Western Canner and Packer that expanded in the early 1920's by buying a couple well known categories, then selling the canneries off

Specialized in peaches.

Bought Western Canning Company on Park Avenue between Hollis and Watts in Emeryville in May 1921 according to June 1921 Canning Age . Sold to Del Monte in 1927.

Bought United Canneries of Oakland in 1922, according to February 1922 Canning Age The United Cannery was at the foot of 9th Ave in Oakland. The cannery had cost $500,000 to build, and had a capacity of 400,000 cases."H.L. Lafler, industrial engineer, undertook the transfer."

Also had cannery in West Sacramento and in 25 counties, according to Western Canner and Growers magazine 1919.

Owned Pioneer Fruit Company in 1920's according to lawsuit from Zellerbach Paper going after Virden for unpaid bills.

Also owned meat packing houses in Sacramento and South San Francisco, and had several lawsuits in the 1930's because they didn't build all the meat packing businesses that they said when they issued stock.

Virden canned olives for the California Olive Growers Association according to Pacific Rural Press, Oct. 15, 1921. Western Canner and Packer similarly mentioned that they'd be handling the entire pack for the association through the Emeryville and Tulare canneries.

Comments on car shortages: http://books.google.com/books?id=369CAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA663&ots=bDhsBwPkYy&dq=%22charles%20e.%20virden%22%20virden%20packing&pg=PA663#v=onepage&q&f=false Bought Salsini Canning and Packing plant at Lincoln Ave and Auzerais st. in 1921 for $250,000. Intended for packing of local meat, would have cold storage space. ( Western Canner and Packer ). Wholesale Grocery Review says that 8,000 tons of fruit will be canned there.

Photo in Emeryville Arcadia book.

Balfour Guthrie took option to buy packing plants in May 1926 . - Marysville, San Jose, Elmhurst, Fruitvale, and Emeryville.

"Eventually became an Armour subsidiary" (at least for the meat packing industries in SSF). (Supposedly sold to Armour in May 1935.)

Also canned fruit under the Campfire logo. (Western Canner and Packer, Nov. 1922)

Was planning for cannery in Sutter or Yuba County according to November 1921 Canning Age. The area had been shipping 2000 carloads of fruit to San Jose in previous years.

1922 locations from August 1922 Western Canner and Packer ad.

Emeryville plant Bought from Western Canning in 1919. Torn down,,now site of Pixar.

1100 29th Ave Marysville Opened in July 1922 according to Western Canner and Packer Listed as Balfour Guthrie on 1932 Sanborn.

South San Francisco: Some history