The First Valencia Orchard in California

Photographed by Tatiana Zavala, August 13, 2024

1. The First Valencia Orchard in California Marker

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"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,

Photographed by Tatiana Zavala, October 23, 2024

2. Marker with orange trees in background

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."

Climbing up the stairs of the CSUF Pollak Library, I stopped at the fourth floor...I encountered a small exhibit that focused on the history of the Placentia Fruit Company and how it related to the state’s oldest Valencia Orange orchard, originally planted in the middle of what is now the CSUF campus.

Curated by Trish Campbell, Exhibit Program Coordinator at CSUF’s Pollak Library and Adjunct Professor in the Division of Anthropology, this small display was one component of a larger exhibition that marked the Fullerton Arboretum’s 40th anniversary. The full display was initially shown in the Orange County Agricultural & Nikkei Heritage Museum at the Fullerton Arboretum from 2018 to 2019... Housing orange crates and their labels, the display begins by explaining who Richard H. Gilman was, and how his history relates to the planting of the first Valencia orange grove in Southern California.

“Richard Gilman, a native of New Hampshire, arrived in Sonoma County, California, where he joined with a group in

Photographed by Tatiana Zavala, August 13, 2024

3. The First Valencia Orchard in California

1872 in forming the Southern California Semi-Tropical Fruit Company (SCSFC),” reads the exhibit wall text. The company was searching for fertile citrus-producing land to develop. “Gilman, on behalf of the corporation, purchased for them a tract [in Southern California] consisting of 110 acres at a rate of $17.50 per acre from the Sterns Land Company. Returning north, he reported the deal. Gilman returned in 1873, arriving in Placentia equipped with a four-horse team and a wagon loaded with farming tools to begin the development of one of the earliest citrus ranches in the southland.”

Interestingly, Gilman received a delivery of “orange trees of ‘unlabeled’ varieties” from a place called the River Brothers nursery in London, England, according to the wall text. Reading on, I found out that “one variety” of oranges “was a late producer and Gilman pioneered the development of groves from buds from this tree known as the Valencia late.” In 1880, Gilman went on to plant the first 5-acre grove of Valencia oranges. This location on the Gilman Ranch, which is now part of CSUF, became known as the birthplace of the world-famous Valencia orange, a widely popular summer-time fruit that helped boost Placentia’s economy.

What I didn’t know until encountering the exhibit was that all strains of this type of orange can be traced back to the River Brothers nursery. From the

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research on display, I learned that the strains of Valencia Orange are all believed to have entered the U.S. in about 1876, and some were developed in hothouse conditions in a nursery in New York, before arriving in Florida and California.