The early history of Riverside was closely tied to the citrus industry. By 1882, there were more than 250,000 citrus trees in Riverside. By 1895, the citrus industry had made Riverside the wealthiest city in the country per capita. Many of the early Riversiders entered this thriving citrus industry.
One such early Riverside resident connected to the citrus industry was Alexander Strachan. Alexander was born in 1879 in Ontario, Canada. According to US Census reports, he immigrated to the United States in 1897. His name appears in Riverside newspapers by early 1903. Later that year, in early October, Mr. and Mrs. George Seger announced that their daughter, Helen Hardenburg Seger, was engaged to Alexander Strachan. The wedding occurred at the Seger home on October 24, 1903. Mrs. Seger was the former Sarah Jane Hardenburg, the sister of Isabella Hardenburg, Frank A. Miller's first wife. Thus, through marriage, Alexander Strachan became Frank Miller's nephew. City directories of the time list the Strachan couple living at the Glenwood Hotel.
In the 1905 Riverside City Directory, Alexander Strachan was listed as an officer of the G R Hand & Company. Hand soon ran into difficulties. The Strachan Fruit Company was incorporated in July 1906 as a reorganization of the G. R. Hand Company, with the same officers, packing houses, and citrus brands. At that time, they had facilities in Riverside, Casa Blanca, Upland, and Rialto.
Cartoon Caricature of Alexander Strachan Harvesting Melons from Who's Who in Riverside, 1908. (Author's Collection)
The Riverside packing house was on the southeast corner of Fifth Street and Pachappa Avenue (today Commerce Street). The building has had numerous owners and businesses over the years, most of which did not last very long. F. B. Sandilands of Sandilands Brothers first built the structure about 1899. Two of their well-known citrus labels were "Our Navy" and "The Clipper." By 1900, the Pine Box Lumber Company was using the building as a warehouse for its business, much of which involved making shipping crates for fruit and vegetables. G. R Hand next briefly used the facility before Strachan reorganized the company as the Strachan Fruit Company.
1908 Sanborn Map showing the Strachan Fruit Company at the southeast corner of Pachappa and Fifth, with a railroad line in its front. (Author's Collection)
Later, the Strachan Fruit Company operated a packing house in other locations in the state and branched out from citrus to melons, as evidenced by news reports that its cantaloupe packing shed in Keystone in the Imperial Valley was destroyed by fire in September 1908. In 1907, Strachan had 250 acres of cantaloupe plants in the Imperial Valley. Strachan journeyed from Riverside to the Imperial Valley to investigate the fire. Another area for the company was in Brawley.
The Strachan Fruit Company took over most of the citrus names and labels from the G. R. Hand Company. Some of these were the Triangle Brand (also incorporated into the other labels), the Parent Tree Brand, the Limited Brand, and the Pyramid Brand. Strachan Fruit was listed as the successor of the Hand Company.
From top left: Triangle Brand -The Distinctive Logo which also appeared on other Labels, Pyramid Brand -- G. R. Hand Co., Pyramid Brand -- Slight Variation for the Strachan Fruit Co., Parent Tree Brand -- Featuring the Parent Navel Orange Tree Transplanted by President Teddy Roosevelt in the Courtyard of the Glenwood Mission Inn, Limited Brand -- Featuring a Passenger Train Traveling through the Orange Groves, Postcard of the Limited, a Passenger Train for the Salt Lake Route, Traveling through the Orange Groves. (Author's collection)
Alexander's wife, Helen, took an active interest in the fruit company. Edgar Wright, a correspondent for the Fruit World, visited Riverside in October 1908. In his account of the visit, he reported that the Strachans gave him a pleasant tour of the area, with Mrs. Strachan as the driver. He stated that she was as acquainted with the business as her husband. He praised her by writing that "the success of the Strachan Fruit Company could be traced to the influence of the good wife."
However, as with many of the early concerns, the success did not last. In November 1911, the newspaper started listing the "Notice of Sale under Deed of Trust." The National Bank of Riverside advised that the property would be sold on February 12, 1912. The Strachan family had already departed Riverside by this time.
By the time of the 1910 US Census, the Strachan family was living in Los Angeles. There, on April 1, 1911, the couple had twins, John and Jean. Alexander Strachan died in Los Angeles on June 3, 1958.
A fire truck's aerial ladder illuminates the ruins of the former Strachan Fruit Company Packing House at Fifth Street and Pachappa Avenue as firefighters work to extinguish a blaze in the early hours of July 13, 2024. (Photo courtesy Julian Jolliffe)
The structure that had undergone several identities would continue to change hands for various uses. The last occupant was Gilmore's Truck Parts and Accessories. On Friday night, July 12, 2024, at about 11:15 p.m., a suspicious fire erupted and destroyed this historic building, which, along with other uses, had once served as the Strachan Fruit Company Packing House.
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