6.2: Citrus King and Selling the California Dream

California has had a very rich and colorful citrus history, seen in counties all over the southern part of the state, (Orange, Riverside, Venture and even Los Angeles). With over 400 varieties of oranges grown, the Washington Seedless Navel (from Washington DC), and the Valencia variety are the true King and Queen of citrus.

Field Trip: In Search for California’s Oldest Naval Orange Tree

Let’s head on a field trip in search for the oldest naval orange tree in California! Either Scan the QR code or visit this link to learn the history of the Eliza Tibbets California Naval Orange in Riverside, California. (Video length: 5 min).

Case Study - Orange County

Once upon a time in Orange County, money grew on trees. Citrus was the crop that made Orange County orange. Citrus - primarily Valencia oranges - once cascaded in green and gold down out of the mountains and along the rich coastal plain in neat, orderly rows, divided by windbreaks of eucalyptus trees. Sixty ago, much of central Orange County was a vast orchard, dotted with little towns like Santa Ana, Tustin, Anaheim, and, of course, Orange. The crop fueled the local economy for decades, creating an Easterner’s image of paradise: a sunny, fertile land, where health grew on trees.

The first small seedling groves were planted here in the early 1870s, at a time when scores of new crops were being tried - most unsuccessfully. In 1875, the first commercial grove of hearty, spring-ripening Valencia oranges was planted by R. H. Gilman on what is now the Cal State Fullerton campus.

In those days, the biggest crop in the area was grapes, grown for wine or raisins. But in the 1880s, local vineyards were ravaged by a mysterious blight, clearing the way for thousands of new citrus plantings.

“Very naturally,” wrote Fullerton grower C. C. Chapman in 1911, “an occupation which is so attractive as citrus culture soon interested many enterprising men.” And among the enterprising men it interested was C. C. Chapman himself, who grew rich growing and packing his Old Mission brand oranges. But for every large operation like Chapman’s, there were dozens of other local ranchers with five-, 10- and 20-acre groves of their own. And the groves meant work for more than just the growers. There were fumigators, pickers, teamsters, packers, and sundry other tradesmen living on the wealth of the groves. For example, the Orange City Directory for 1919 shows perhaps one-third of the local workforce employed in some aspect of the citrus industry.

Figure 6.4: Early 1900’s Citrus Packing Label. Old Mission orange crate label courtesy Orange County Archives, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Over the decades, the citrus industry employed many immigrant workers, both in the groves and in the packing houses. First (in the late 19th century) the Chinese, and later (especially after 1910) Mexican-Americans. But labor relations were not always cordial. In the big strike of 1936, hundreds of citrus workers walked out at the height of the Valencia season. Tensions ran high over the next four weeks as worker meetings were broken up by armed men, and replacement workers were attacked by strikers. In the end, the workers received a slight increase and pay, and some improvements in working conditions, but their biggest goal – union recognition – went unfulfilled. When World War II pulled many Mexican-Americans into the service, or other war work, the Federal government launched the Bracero program, to bring temporary workers up from Mexico. Until the 1960s, they worked side by side with the local Hispanic population.

By 1915, there were over 20,000 acres of orange groves in Orange County. By 1936, when Orange County supplied one-sixth of the nation’s Valencia crop, there were 64,000 acres, and the citrus industry was generating two-thirds of the county’s agricultural income. As late as 1948 there were still 67,263 acres of Valencia’s - more than five million trees. And that didn’t even include other citrus crops, such as navel oranges, limes, grapefruit, and lemons.

Also, about the same time, the greater San Fernando Valley began seeing an influx of orange groves because of the development of reliable water access by the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the ideal climate for citrus fruits. Prior to this period, the valley was primarily used for livestock grazing. At its peak in the 1930s, there were over 15,000 acres of oranges in the valley, but post WWII when people were moving back into the valley, the groves would quickly be replaced by an urban landscape. In fact, by the 1970s, only 350 acres or orange groves remained, and as of 2024 only 40 acres remain, including the original 7-acre grove found at Cal State Northridge.

But in 1949, nearly 7,000 acres of oranges disappeared. The post-war migration to Southern California had begun in earnest, and each year more and more trees fell as housing tracts began to blanket Orange County. By 1985, there were less than 4,000 acres of Valencia’s in the county, primarily on the Irvine Ranch. Twenty years later, less than 100 acres survived.

Today, the old packing houses are best known for their colorful and distinctive advertising labels that were pasted on the ends of each wooden crate of fruit until the introduction of the cardboard box in the mid-’50s. Many featured idyllic scenes or lovely maidens or promoted their place of origin. There were brands like Rooster, and Bird Rocks, and Cleopatra, and Atlas, and Jim Dandy, and any of a hundred others. Each was unique. They had to be, for their main purpose was to make each packing houses’ fruit instantly recognizable to wholesale buyers at Eastern auction markets.

The real marketing, though, was carried on by the old Southern California Fruit Exchange, which after several name changes finally became Sunkist Growers in 1952. Over the years, Sunkist launched vast national marketing campaigns, which promoted Southern California almost as much as they touted its golden fruit.

The Villa Park Orchards Association was the last of Orange County’s packing houses to go. Founded by local growers in 1912, they moved their operation to the old Santiago Orange Growers packing house in Orange in 1978, and operated there until 2006, when they moved to Ventura County.