Salsina Packing and Canning Company
| Business Details | |
|---|---|
| Primary Town | San Jose |
| Primary Business | Cannery |
Summary
Short-lived tomato canner. The company quickly went under after World War I, only to reappear as part of "Virden Packing":/view?industry=virden_packing_company .
Locations
| Location | Years | Address | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose | 1916 | Lincoln Avenue and Auzerais Street |
Details
Alias Salsini and Salsinia seen on some maps. Probably typo. Founded in 1918 by A. Lambroso and Carlo Aiello from Highland, New York.
Managed by Gustave Lion. the Lion family which ran a furniture store and owned the San Martin ranch. Sold ranch in 1921, sold cannery in 1922 to Virden Packing.
Shows up in 1919 patent office listing for packed tomatoes.
1922 Western Canner and Packer ad for Pacific Manifolding Book Co shows a cannery forem for Salsina.
1920 packer's directory shows they canned everything - tomatoes, pears, cherries, etc.
Leet showed up at the 7th national foreign trade convention.
1919 city directory shows it as "Gus F. Lion, Pres, Alphonso Lambrosa V. Pres, Mgr W. J. Leet treas, Lincoln Cor San Salvador."
Gus F. Lion also managed Lion and Sons furniture at 99 south second st., home 296 North 3rd., 99 South Second Street
From History of Santa Clara County GUSTAVE F. LION. A family, historic in its way, of successful merchants and land owners is represented by Gustave F. Lion, president of L Lion and Sons Company of San Jose, where the family has been continuously represented since 1855. He was born in San Jose, December 13, 1859. son of Lazard and Zulema ( Martin) Lion, mentioned at length elsewhere in this work. Gustave attended the Gates private school in San Jose and then Santa Clara College until he was four- teen. He then left his books to assist his father in his business and went to San Francisco, where he had full charge of his office there and bought goods for his seven stores; and was also selling agent for the San Jose Glove Company in San Francisco; this concern was also owned by his father. The lad went to night school while he was in the city and also at- tended Heald's Business College to further perfect himself in being able to manage aflfairs. In 1880 he came back to San Jose and established a drj- goods business, which he later sold to Stull and Sonniksen. In 1886 Gustave Lion went to Los Angeles to visit and he saw the great opportunities of the southern city, as it was at the time of its first real boom, and he opened an exclusive carpet store and continued there for almost four vears, then sold out and came back to San Jose to identify himself with the L, Lion and Sons concern. That same year it was incorpo- rated as L. Lion and Sons Company, with Gustave F. as its president, and that office he has held ever since. The famous San Martin ranch of 5585 acres also came under his control and he managed that until it was sold for subdivision into small farms in 1921. He had been looking after the extensive land holdings for his father - or in reality the Commercial and Savings Bank - some years previous to this time. Mr. Lion has given his entire time to the development of the concern of which he is the head, but not to the exclu- sion of his duties as a public spirited citizen.
The marriage of Gustave F. Lion with Miss Mary Jobson of San Jose was celebrated in 1880, and they have become the parents of three children: Clara Z. married W. E. Blauer, manager of the San Jose branch of the Bank of Italy; Morrell G. is a grower and wholesaler of seeds in Santa Clara County; and Hortense is at home. The daughters were born in San Jose and the son in Los Angeles. The family home is at 1275 Alameda. Mr. Lion is one of the popular citizens of the county as well as one of the most public spirited. He is a member of the Cham- ber of Commerce, the Countrv Club, the Commercial Club, the B. P. O. Elks, a director of the San Jose branch of the Bank of Italy and a member of its ad- visory board. He was vice-president of the Commer- cial and Savings Bank for several years and until it was sold, was president of the Salsina Canning and Packing Company. Always interested in politics, thought not a seeker for office, he has sought to do what he could under the banners of the Republican party, although he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, held in Chicago in 1896. Of kindly disposition, keen business discernment, Mr. Lion has a host of friends through the state who gladly acknowledge his success and consider his word as good as his bond.
May 11, 1918 California Fruit News "The Salsina Canning and Packing Company, which was recently organized with a captal stock of $150,000 by italian interests in Santa Clara Valley, expects to open its new cannery towards the end of August The building is completed and machinery is to be installed shortly. This company is composed of a number of prominent Italians and has the backing of people connected with the Bank of Italy and New York City Italian interests. Salsina is the name of the Italian tomato paste as it is known in Italy and means the condition of the product as it finally reaches the consumer. There seems to be no exact translation, hence the use of the name in the company."
"A new cannery to be known as the Salsina Canning Company is planned to be established in Santa Clara County by New York State cannery men. It is to be concerned primarily, it is understood, with the manufacture of Italian tomato paste and sauce, which its promoters have for years been concerned with importing from Italy and will remove their operations from Highland, New York State, to San Jose owing to its better facilities for this kind of work in the Santa Clara Valley. The names mentioned are A. Lambrosa and Carlo Aiello."
Added 60x600 concrete addition to existing cannery in 1919 according to American Architect and Architecture Western Canner and Packer v13 (1922): during the last week of February, the [Virden Packing Company] purchased the Salsini Canning and Packing plant located on the corner of Lincoln avenue and San Salvador street for the sum of $250,000 in San Jose. Chas. E. Virden, president of the company, stated that additions will be made at once to the present Salsini plant to make it one of the largest in Santa Clara county. Work will be started at once for alterations and new buildings. The San Jose plant will have an addition of a cold storage plant to be used in conjunction for the packing of meats. This plant will be used for the packing of all the companies meats drawn from the field south of San Jose.
1919: planning additional line to extend capacity as seen in Electrical World