Earl Fruit Company
| Business |
Dried Fruit Packer,Fresh Fruit Packer |
|---|
The Earl Fruit Company was a California-based fruit and vegetable packer and wholesaler. The company handled fresh and dried fruit, and also handled vegetables. Earl Fruit was founded by Edwin Tobias Earl who had invented the ventilated refrigerator car. Armour bought the company soon after with Earl keeping a minor ownership role The company apparently was trying to encourage use of its car fleet, and so rather than act as wholesalers, the company often charged for packing but let the grower get the risk or reward from the fruit sale. "Growers would bring in their fruit, and Earl would manufacture the boxes and sell them to the grower and pack and sort the fruit, and then ship it for the account of the grower and charge them for the freight in each refrigerated car in addition to the freight charged by the railroad for transportation. So it was a very, very lucrative business for the Armour family."[1] In 1901, the company provided all supplies and advanced money to Chinese farmers in the Los Angeles area to raise celery [2]
The company's fruit was shipped both across the United States and to Europe under its Red Flag trademark[3]. In 1903, pears, peaches, and plums were being shipped from San Jose to Australia[4]. In 1893, the company shipped 4,000 carloads of fruit[5].
An 1897 photo of an orange packing house in Redlands, California states the company's presence in Chicago, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia[6].
In 1911, the Supreme Court forced the meat packers to divest their refrigerator cars because of their monopoly power. Joseph Di Giorgio of the Di Giorgio fruit brokerage business in Baltimore bought the company for access to the fresh fruit market[7].
Locations
| Location | Years | Address | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Locke | River Road | Rented space in Southern Pacific warehouse[8]. | |
| Lodi | |||
| Newcastle | 1915 | In freight shed along railroad[9]. | |
| Redlands | 1897 | 100 x 160 foot packing house for oranges[10] | |
| Sacramento | 1908 | 1014 Second Street | Head office[11]. |
| San Jose | 1892, 1900 | Bassett near San Pedro | |
| San Jose | 1893, 1896, 1902, 1906, 1907 | Bassett Street at Terraine Street |
Northeast Corner. |
| San Jose | 1936, 1938 | 395a North First Street | |
| Winters | 1951 | Abbay St., across tracks from depot.[12] | |
| Wright | 1911 | On Sunset Park spur (now Wrights Station Road), on north side of road on north side of creek, east of road bridge. |
Photos
Earl Fruit Company, Walnut Grove California State Library, California History Section
References
- ↑ Ruth Teiser, Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio: The Di Giorgio's: From Fruit Merchants to Corporate Innovators". Oral history, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1983. "The Earl Fruit Company was headed up by a man named E. T. Earl from Sacramento, who owned a small portion of it and who was the manager of a company for the Armour family."
- ↑ George W. Moore, History of the Celery Industry. In Samuel Armor, History of Orange County, California, with Biographical Sketches. Historic Record Company, 1921. "(In 1901...) Mr. [E. A.] Curtis bethought himself of the Los Angeles Chinese market gardeners and their knowledge of celery growing, and at once entered into negotiations with a leading Chinaman to undertake the work of growing eighty acres of celery on contract, the Earl Fruit Company to furnish everything, including implements needed in the cultivation of the crop, also money advanced for rental of the land and the supplying of water where needed by digging wells..."
- ↑ The Earl Fruit Company: Leading Fruit Shippers.. November 26, 1908 Sacramento Union.
- ↑ Our Fruits Find Favor in Markets of the Workd. August 29, 1903 San Jose Evening News.
- ↑ The Fruit Shipping Industry. In Sacramento County and Its Resources. JH. McClatchy and Company, 1895.
- ↑ Earl Fruit Company. In Illustrated Redlands, 1897.
- ↑ Ruth Teiser, Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio: The Di Giorgio's: From Fruit Merchants to Corporate Innovators". Oral history, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1983.
- ↑ The Community of Locke. Walking tour. Walnutgrove.com.
- ↑ Earl Fruit Packing Company. Sacramento History Online. Producer's Fruit is next door, which apparently was another Di Giorgio business.
- ↑ Earl Fruit Company. In Illustrated Redlands, 1897.
- ↑ The Earl Fruit Company: Leading Fruit Shippers.. November 26, 1908 Sacramento Union.
- ↑ Winters: Retire Packing Shed. Southern Pacific Western Division Drawing W-1814, August 7, 1951. In collection at wx4.org.