Santa Clara Valley Fruit Company
| Business |
Dried Fruit Packer |
|---|---|
| Main Location |
San Jose |
| Active |
1895 - 1906 |
| Predecessors |
Riverdale Fruit Company |
The Santa Clara Valley Fruit Company was a dried fruit packer in San Jose, California. D. Denslow Brooks was the manager[1][2]. Brooks' father-in-law was pioneer orchardist Sanford Coe[3]. The company appeared in 1895[4] using a location similar to the Riverdale Fruit Company run by Sanford Coe. Coe had died in 1894, so it's likely that Brooks took over his father-in-law's business and plant. The company was also listed as a fruit dryer in the 1896 city directory. The company was a drop-off location for fruit for the California Cured Fruit Association in 1903. A 1900 advertisement lists them as a happy user of the Anderson Prune Dipper Company prune grader[5]
The company appeared in city directories between 1896 and 1906, though their plant was leased to J. W. Chilton Fruit Packing for one year in 1903 following the collapse of Porter Brothers[6]. Advertisements for the company's fruit appeared in at least one eastern paper in 1903[7]
The photos of Santa Clara Valley Fruit company and the George Herbert plant look almost identical - a low, one-story wooden bulding with a false front. They're also reminiscent of Start and Morrison's plant on the east side, as well as many of the turn-of-the-century buildings in downtown Campbell.
Locations
| Location | Years | Address | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose | 1896, 1900, 1902, 1904, 1906 | Paula Street at Northrup Street | On Paula between Northrup and Race[8] |
References
- ↑ D. Denslow Brooks, fruit packer. In 1911 Polk's Santa Jose City and Santa Clara County Directory. "Meridian Road, 1 north of Moorpark Ave."
- ↑ 1898 The American Florist. "The residence of D. D. Brooks, manager of the Santa Clara Valley Fruit Company, was destroyed by fire February 19."
- ↑ S.A. Coe. In H.S. Foote, Pen Pictures from the Garden of the World, or Santa Clara County, California, 1888. "... Three children were born to them: Alice J., wife of D. D. Brooks, of Minneapolis, Minnesota..."
- ↑ August 19, 1895 San Francisco Call; " The first car of dried prunes from the new crop was shipped from this city yesterday, about eight days earlier than the shipment last year. There is always more or less strife to see who will make the first shipment of the year. The shipment this year is divided between George M. Herbert, the Sorosis Fruit Company, John B. Herbert and the Santa Clara Valley Fruit Company... The shipment was one of the largest carloads that ever left this city and was consigned to Chicago. On each side of the car were flaring banners announcing that it was the first of Santa Clara's output this year."
- ↑ Advertisement for Anderson Prune Dipper Co., July 28, 1900 Pacific Rural Press
- ↑ Porter Brothers Plant For Sale: September 12, 1903 San Jose Evening News
- ↑ Advertisement: March 17, 1903 Brooklyn Daily Eagle. "DOCTORS ADVISE THE LIBERAL USE OF our Santa Clara fruits: fresh, clean, 'more delicious and .... than others... for a few days only our fine flavored extra fancy packed prunes... Santa Clara Valley Fruit Co., xxxxxx. (Paywall means only bad OCR available.)
- ↑ Porter Brothers Plant For Sale: September 12, 1903 San Jose Evening News