A Cultural Tale of California’s Citrus Industry

California Citrus State Historic Park in Riverside, CA beautifully preserves one of Southern California’s important historical, cultural and agricultural contributions: citrus farming. In 1873, California’s citrus industry took off when the United States Department of Agriculture mailed two Washington Navel orange trees to Eliza Tibbets, one of the early settlers and founders of Riverside. Word quickly spread of how these trees, coupled with perfect soil and weather conditions in Southern California, produced a sweet and flavorful fruit.

By 1893, Riverside was the wealthiest city per capita in the United States and dozens of new citrus growing communities were created around it – including Rialto, Fontana, Bloomington, Redlands, Loma Linda & South Riverside (now Corona). Citrus farmers flocked to California in what became known as the “Second Gold Rush” and by 1901, there were a staggering 4.5-million citrus trees in California. The industry required a large workforce and immigrant workers quickly filled the need. Native California Indians were among the first to farm the "new California Gold,” but anti-Native American sentiment resulted in a decline in the workforce. The Native Americans were mostly replaced by Chinese immigrants, but soon enough – thanks to anti-Chinese sentiment & The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 – they too were replaced. This time, Japanese immigrants filled the void and became the largest of any labor group in the entire citrus industry. However, once again, anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States soon forced them out and they were eventually replaced by Hispanic immigrants.

In the 1920’s, the Cristero War in Mexico – spawned by the imposition of secularist and anti-Catholic articles in Mexico’s Constitution – resulted in hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens immigrating to the United States. They quickly filled the void in California’s citrus industry and soon enough they became the largest labor group in the entire industry. For a small $5 entry fee, you can explore California State Historic Park for yourself and learn more about these immigrant work group’s contribution to Southern California’s cultural and agricultural heritage.

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