Lindsay’s First Orange Tree

Editor’s note: Although Lindsay incorporated in 1910 from which its founding is dated, the founding family had already moved on. The following is pieced together from memoirs by Sadie Lindsay Patton Hutchinson and some from her grand-daughter and other first person accounts from a file loaned to the Centennial Committee by Helen Easton. Easton invited Hutchinson descendants to participate in Lindsay’s Orange Blossom Festival Parade as grand marshals in 1999. They came and brought information about the family history.

Lindsay founder, Arthur J. Hutchinson was promoted to captain in the Cornwall Rangers by an Act of Parliament on Feb. 14, 1871. He retired from the Militia in 1879 because of health factors from serving in India. Those same health factors brought him to sunny Southern California to the Pomona area in 1881where he purchased a peach ranch.

Orange growing had become a considerable industry in that section. It was discovered that oranges grew best on the high mesa lands when they could be irrigated.

Caption: Mrs. Hutchinson shows fruit from the first Lindsay orange tree, which she planted in 1890, in this undated photo on a later visit to Lindsay.

In 1886 the first refrigerator cars on the Southern Pacific enter operation, with the loading of oranges at Los Angeles on February 14. The refrigerated railroad cars contributed to an economic boom in the famous citrus industry of Southern California, by making deliveries of perishable fruits and vegetables to the eastern United States possible.

LINDSAY

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA CITRUS CENTER

Lindsay-Strathmore Land Development Directory, 1929

The above slogan recently adopted by the Lindsay Chamber of Commerce tells in a few words the reason for the development of this thriving community. The first oranges were planted in this district by Capt. A.J. Hutchinson, founder of Lindsay, in 1893 on his property which now lies in the city limits. Other plantings were made from time to time with the bulk of the acreage being put out in the period from 1905 to 1915. Lindsay is now the shipping point for 13,000 acres of citrus orchards. The fruit is handled by 16 large packing houses that sent to market 3,974 cars of golden fruit during 1928 with an export value of $7.5 million.

Lindsay is also the center of the largest olive acreage in the state with about 4,000 acres in the district. There are two large canneries and two olive oil plants that take care of this product. One of the canneries is the largest of its kind in the world, covering five and one-half acres of floor space and putting up 17,000 cases during the season just past.

There are numerous other products raised in this district. The total carload shipments during 1928 reached 4,607, divided as follows: oranges, 3,846; grapefruit, 71; lemons, 57; olives, 216; grapes, 670; plums, 27; cantaloupes, 80; pomegranates, 38; lime, 191.

Lindsay Olives, 1901-1945:

Snippets from the Lindsay Gazette

Dec. 13, 1901: The Lindsay Gazette carried a small advertisement reading, "For sale, green and ripe olives 2 1/2 cents per pound and muscatel grapes at 5 and 6 cents a pound. This was the first mention of olives in the year old publication.

Nov. 20, 1907: Olives reach a high state of perfection. Tulare County Fair winners include A. Godding of Lindsay, taking first place for "Best display of fresh olives by any one grower." W. A. Buxton of Lindsay took second place in that category.

March 13, 1908: 1,500 to 2,000 acres planted this spring. Olive growers set out as few as five acres and as many as 20.

June 5, 1908: J.J. Cairns trees are 16 years old, the oldest orchard in the district which consists of three rows of trees around the orange orchard. In 1907 the trees produced 62 tons of olives with 30 tons produced from 65 of the 15-year-old trees. Olives were averaging $55 per ton.

Historical background of Orange Packing Company and Lindsay Orange Growers Association

ORANGE PACKING COMPANY

Editor’s note: The following is information put together by Robert Tienken and Rhonda Barker to “put in true form” the history of the site now called McDermont Field House. The first orange packing company, Lindsay Orange Growers Packing House, was on the northwest corner of Hermosa Street and Sweet Brier Avenue. It was operated by the three Cairns sisters, with Emil Walters as manager until it was sold to McDermont in 1955 and later to Suntreat Growers.

Original building was moved into Lindsay sometime after World War I and erected at the corner of Hermosa Street and Sweet Brier Avenue beside the Southern Pacific Railroad track. In 1924 it was owned and operated by E.K.Wallis,  who brought in a partner, Frank Topham, until 1926.

That was the year that the Orange Packing Company was formed by W.S. Cairns who served as the manager, R.B. Singletary (Bart) who operated the house and contracted the labor; and H.J. Ferry, the bookkeeper who had formed a partnership and purchased the building. At that time, all of the packing houses shipped through the Lindsay Merryman Exchange, using the Sunkist label, "Standards," as did the newly created Orange Packing Company.