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Historic
Packinghouses and Other Industrial Structures
Riverside, Ca Copyright 2007 by James E. Lancaster, Ph.D. Notice:The images - photographs, drawings, maps and track diagrams - presented in this web site are the property of the respective contributors and may not be used for any purpose without permission. For more information see Photo Credits and Restrictions. The web site
contains a large number of
images. Some are displayed inline with the text. However, to control
the loading time, the remaining images are viewed by clicking on the
related link, e.g., (Photo-JL), (Drawing-HH), etc. Please note that the
images that open via these links appear in a separate web browser
window. The National Orange Company Sunkist packinghouse, built in 1898, was said to be the oldest, continuously operating packing house in the US. The building was on the east side of Pachappa Avenue (now Commerce St.) at 6th Street and faced the Santa Fe main line through Riverside, a block northeast of the Santa Fe depot. Two Santa Fe sidings ran along the east side of Pachappa Avenue directly in front of the building. The first photo by John Signor (Figure 1) shows the front of the active packinghouse in 1975. Note the white border around the words "National Orange Company."
The next photo (Figure 2) was taken by Keith Jordan in June 1987. The sign over the loading dock has become somewhat more faded. Note also that posts have been added to support the roof over the loading dock. Also note the two tracks in the pavement.
In August 1987 Keith Jordan again photographed the packinghouse (Figure 4). The sign had been repainted but the white border around the words "National Orange Company" was no longer there. Note some peeling paint below the word Grapefruit that's also visible in the previous photos. It also appears that some white paint was spilled on the roof below the "n" in Sunkist.
Bob Chaparro also photographed the packinghouse in 1991 (Figure 6). His April photo is from a slightly different angle than the LOC photo.
Cliff Prather photographed the front of the packinghouse from the southwest in June 1993 (Figure 7).
Bill Messecar photographed the front of the packinghouse, also from the southwest, in 1999 (Figure 8). There has been some reinforcement of the lower part of the loading dock.
A second photo by Bill (Figure 9) shows that posts have been added to support the near end of the loading dock roof.
The last photo of the front shows the
packinghouse as it appeared in May 2000 (Figure 10). This is the last photo I have seen of National Orange. In 2001 it was destroyed by fire.  Figure 10. James Lancaster Photo. Bill Messecar has provided additional color
photos of the National Orange packing house. They were all taken in
1999.
William Messecar photos, used by permission. An additional photo shows the structures on the immediate south side of the main packinghouse building (Photo-JL). The tan building on the left was also part of National Orange. The building on the right is at the location that was at one time (1939) Westbrook Company, a furniture and hardware business. The rear of the packing house was served by the SP Riverside Branch. You can still see the tracks in the street (Photo-JL).  The
Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic
American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) web site (see below), contains
additional information about the National Orange Company packing house,
including this aerial view of Riverside.  Figure 11. LOC HABS/HAER Photo The view above (Figure 11) is looking west from the east side of the city. The east (SP) side of the National Orange packing house is at the left center of the image. The remaining SP trackage is visibe just below the packing house. The Santa Fe station is toward the upper left of the image with the 3rd District main line in front of the station. The UP station is near the top but somewhat hidden by trees. The Riverside Freeway (SR91) is partially visible at the top of the image. The HABS/HAER site has many other photos including a color photo of the front of the building (Photo-HH). Other HABS/HAER black and white and color
photos include the following:
The following HABS/HAER elevation drawings show three sides of the building: (1) the west (front) side as it appeared in 1906 when it was known as the Rubidoux Fruit Company (Drawing-HH); (2) the west side as it appeared in 1991 (Drawing-HH); (3) the north side as it appeared in 1991 (Drawing-HH); and the east (back) side as it appeared in 1991 (Drawing-HH). The next drawing shows a plan view of the complex with the east (back) side of the packing house and five SP tracks at the top, and the west (front) side and two ATSF tracks at the bottom (Drawing-HH), followed by a plan view of the interior of the building complex (Drawing-HH), a larger plan view of the machinery in the packing house (Drawing-HH), and a description of the orange packing process (Text-HH). The HABS/HAER photos were taken in 1991 by Brian Grogan. The source of the elevation drawings is not identified but additional information about the National Orange Company packing house, including an extensive history and more color photos, is available from the Library of Congress HABS/HAER web site (National Orange Company Data Set). The HABS/HAER web site also contains a west-to-east cross section drawing from the Santa Fe depot to the National Orange packing house (Drawing-HH) as well as a plan view drawing of the commercial district around the National Orange packing house (Drawing-Large Version-HH) (Drawing-Small Version-HH). The drawings represent the year 1939. The source of the drawings is not specifically identified but additional information is available from the Library of Congress HABS/HAER web site (Arlington Heights Citrus Landscape Data Set). To tour other Riverside County cities, or other counties, return to the Virtual Tour of Riverside County Page. Return to the Historic Packing Houses and Other Industrial Structures in Southern California Home Page. Return to the Trains Page. |
Figure 2. Keith
Jordan Photo.
Figure 4. Keith
Jordan Photo.
Figure 5. LOC
HABS/HAER Photo
