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.
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.
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…