Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (February 25, 1927)
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (February 25, 1927)
Alternative Title
Chase Correspondence (February 25, 1927)
Subject
Windermere (Fla.)
Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941
Chase, Joshua Coffin, 1858-1948
Citrus fruit industry--Florida
Citrus--Florida
Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)
Orange industry--Florida
Oranges--Florida
Pineapple industry
Pineapple
Description
An original letter of correspondence between brothers and business partners Joshua Coffin Chase and Sydney Octavius Chase. Topics discussed in the letter include the implementation of Sydney's picking instructions, Joshua's trip around Isleworth Grove, the waste from oranges around Lake Laura, and the high quality of pineapples for the season.
Chase & Company was established by Joshua Chase and his brother Sydney in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century. By 1886, the Chase brothers purchased several citrus groves to expand their business, including Isleworth Grove. Isleworth Grove covered a total of 1,300 acres along the Butler Chain of Lakes. Randall Chase joined in the family business soon after his brother, Sydney Chase, Jr., did in 1922. Randall became the president of Chase & Company from 1948-1965. The Isleworth property stayed in the Chase family until 1984 when Franklin Chase, the son of Sydney Chase, sold the property to famed golfer Arnold Palmer.
Chase & Company was established by Joshua Chase and his brother Sydney in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century. By 1886, the Chase brothers purchased several citrus groves to expand their business, including Isleworth Grove. Isleworth Grove covered a total of 1,300 acres along the Butler Chain of Lakes. Randall Chase joined in the family business soon after his brother, Sydney Chase, Jr., did in 1922. Randall became the president of Chase & Company from 1948-1965. The Isleworth property stayed in the Chase family until 1984 when Franklin Chase, the son of Sydney Chase, sold the property to famed golfer Arnold Palmer.
Creator
Chase, Joshua Coffin
Source
Original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, February 25, 1927: box 49, folder 20.84, Chase Collection (MS 14), Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Date Created
1927-02-25
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, February 25, 1927.
Is Part Of
Chase Collection (MS 14), box 49, folder 20.84, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Isleworth Collection, Citrus Collection, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Referenced By
Folder referenced in Chase Collection finding guide, http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm.
Format
image/jpg
Extent
203 KB
Medium
1-page typewritten letter
Language
eng
Type
Text
Coverage
Isleworth Grove, Windermere, Florida
Chase & Company Office, Sanford, Florida
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Economics Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Entire Chase Collection is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase, and the children of Randall Chase.
Rights Holder
The displayed collection item is housed at Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. RICHES of Central Florida has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.
Contributing Project
Special and Area Studies Collections, University of Florida
Digital Collections (UFDC), University of Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
Source Repository
Source Repository University of Florida, Special and Area Studies Collections
External Reference
Warner, S.C. "Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida." Florida State Horticultural Society vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.
Hopkins, James T. Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.
"Joshua Coffin Chase (1858-1948)." Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=960.
"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)." Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.
Transcript
Feb 25 1927
Mr. S. O. Chase,
Sanford, Florida.
Dear Syd:
ISLEWORTH: After our telephone talk, Hutchinson was requested to advise Browne to carry out your picking instructions concerning the fruit from the scattered grapefruit trees, the seeding trees near the packing house, and then finish picking the fruit on the island. Hutchinson figured that this would take the pickers' time until Saturday.
The writer had with him Mr. and Mrs. Louis Madeira, daughter, and friend of the daughter, and only drove around the outside of the grove. The only bad waste in oranges is from trees along Lake Laura from the tramway over canal in the direction of the tangerine grove. It looked to me as if some of the trees right there had dropped over half of the fruit in the last week.
Browne was not in evidence and Hutchinson did not know whether he was on the place or away. Spraying was being carried on in the pineapple section.
Hutchinson stated that the car of pineapples loaded yesterday was the best run of fruit and sizes shipped so far this season. He will arrange to pack up the balance of the pineapples and store them in the precooling chambers. He thought he had in the neighborhood of four cars. He would not attempt to pack the grapefruit or the round oranges that are in the house and that will come in this week until the beginning of next week.
The trees in all directions appeared to be putting on a splendid bloom. It is unfortunate that the market has not worked out the way we hoped it would. It is a question whether or not it will be any better in the next two or three weeks, as by that time California will be on hand with an extra supply of fruit to take up the slack in shipments prevented by storms and bad weather.
Yours very truly,
Mr. S. O. Chase,
Sanford, Florida.
Dear Syd:
ISLEWORTH: After our telephone talk, Hutchinson was requested to advise Browne to carry out your picking instructions concerning the fruit from the scattered grapefruit trees, the seeding trees near the packing house, and then finish picking the fruit on the island. Hutchinson figured that this would take the pickers' time until Saturday.
The writer had with him Mr. and Mrs. Louis Madeira, daughter, and friend of the daughter, and only drove around the outside of the grove. The only bad waste in oranges is from trees along Lake Laura from the tramway over canal in the direction of the tangerine grove. It looked to me as if some of the trees right there had dropped over half of the fruit in the last week.
Browne was not in evidence and Hutchinson did not know whether he was on the place or away. Spraying was being carried on in the pineapple section.
Hutchinson stated that the car of pineapples loaded yesterday was the best run of fruit and sizes shipped so far this season. He will arrange to pack up the balance of the pineapples and store them in the precooling chambers. He thought he had in the neighborhood of four cars. He would not attempt to pack the grapefruit or the round oranges that are in the house and that will come in this week until the beginning of next week.
The trees in all directions appeared to be putting on a splendid bloom. It is unfortunate that the market has not worked out the way we hoped it would. It is a question whether or not it will be any better in the next two or three weeks, as by that time California will be on hand with an extra supply of fruit to take up the slack in shipments prevented by storms and bad weather.
Yours very truly,
Document Item Type Metadata
Original Format
1-page typewritten letter
Collection
Citation
Chase, Joshua Coffin, “Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (February 25, 1927),” RICHES, accessed April 27, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/2715.