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The Birth of the Citrus Industry
The first orange trees in Orange were two young seedlings outside of Capt. W.T. Glassell’s tract office on the Plaza. The first local orchard was planted in 1873 by Patterson Bowers at the east end of Walnut Street on the banks of the Santiago Creek. Other orchards soon followed. Some growers planted the winter-ripening Navels, but it was the Valencia orange (first planted in Southern California by A.B. Chapman on his ranch at San Gabriel) that became the most popular variety in this area.
The citrus industry developed slowly at first. Limited irrigation water and lack of railroad facilities in the 1870s and ‘80s held back growth and marketing. Raisin grapes and other dried fruit could easily shipped just about anywhere, but citrus had to be kept fresh. Even after the fruit could be shipped almost anywhere in the country, oranges were considered a luxury item by most Americans. It took a long, dedicated advertising campaign to transform them into an everyday snack. Lemons were planted on a much smaller scale locally, while other citrus crops, such as grapefruit, never had much of an impact here.
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