Letter from Randall Chase to Sydney Chase (October 29, 1936)
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Randall Chase to Sydney Chase (October 29, 1936)
Alternative Title
Chase Correspondence (October 29, 1936)
Subject
Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941
Chase, Joshua Coffin, 1858-1948
Citrus --Florida
Oranges--Florida
Wabasso (Fla.)
Quincy (Fla.)
Vero Beach (Fla.)
Fort Pierce (Fla.)
Nocatee (Fla.)
Description
An original letter of correspondence written by Randall Chase to his father and Chase & Company business partner Sydney Chase. A portion of the letter includes information about Chase & Company's involvement at Wabasso Grove, Vero Beach, and Fort Pierce. Other topics mentioned include color added treatments, and tangerine and orange production.
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. 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.
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. 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.
Creator
Chase, Randall
Source
Original letter from Randall Chase to Sydney Chase, October 29, 1936: Chase Collection (MS 14), box 3, folder 13.48, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Date Created
1936-10-29
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original letter from Randall Chase to Sydney Chase, October 29, 1936.
Is Part Of
Chase Collection (MS 14), box 3, folder 13.48, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
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.
Requires
Format
application/pdf
Extent
650 KB
Medium
3 page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead
Language
eng
Type
Text
Coverage
Sanford, Florida
Asheville, North Carolina
Wabasso, Florida
Melbourne, Florida
Vero Beach, Florida
Fort Pierce, Florida
Nocatee, Florida
Winter Haven, Florida
Lakeland, Florida
Spatial Coverage
28.811729, -81.268138
35.595065, -82.551673
27.748285, -80.436098
28.084167, -80.609272
27.638736, -80.397732
27.446612, -80.326699
30.105632, -81.424414
28.022621, -81.733512
28.040847, -81.952081
Temporal Coverage
1934-01-01/1936-11-12
Accrual Method
Donation
Audience Education Level
SS.K.A.1.2; SS.K.G.3.3; SS.1.A.1.1; SS.1.A.2.2; SS.1.A.2.4; SS.1.E.1.4; SS.1.G.1.6; SS.2.A.1.1; SS.3.A.1.1; SS.3.G.3.1; SS.3.G.4.1; SS.4.A.1.1 ; SS.4.A.7.2; SS.4.E.1.1; SS.4.E.1.2; SS.4.G.1.3; SS.5.A.1.1; SS.6.W.1.3; SS.7.E.2.4; SS.7.G.2.3; SS.8.A.1.5; SS.8.E.2.1; SS.8.E.2.3; SS.912.A.1.1; SS.912.A.1.6 ; SS.912.A.5.11; SS.912.A.5.12; SS.912.E.2.3; SS.912.G.2.1; SS.912.G.3.2; SS.912.G.3.5; SS.912.G.5.1; SS.912.W.1.3 ; SS.912.W.7.4
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
Marra, Katherine
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
External Reference
Kirkland, L.P. "The 'Color Added' Situation." Florida State Horticultural Society, vol 49 (1936): 103-106.
"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.
Hopkins, James T. Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.
Warner, S.C. "Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida." Florida State Horticultural Society vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.
External Reference Title
Transcript
CHASE & CO
SANFORD. FLORIDA
October 29, 1936.
Mr. S. O. Cheese, Asheville, N. C.
Dear Dad:
Tuesday morning I left here and went down the east coast. I stopped for a short time at the Wabasso Grove. They have had a super-abundance of rain south of Melbourne. The trees on the Wabasso grove are looking excellent, end I cannot sec that there has been any damage resulting to the trees. The Hamlins on the young trees have split very badly, end my guess would be we have lost from 25 to 55% of the crop. Henry has the place well mowed, ditches open, and the work well in hand.
The old darky who once thought he wanted to sell his 40 acres adjoining ours has now decided he can get $80 an acre. He may be able to do it sometime this winter, as real estate values have ad¬vanced considerably and there is some activity in that territory.
At Vero Beach I spent some time with Jack Napier Strong, who has leased a packing house at that point, end will operate sort of a truck depot for citrus fruits and vegetables.
We have agreed to finance him to the extent of $1,500. for buying supplies, field crates, and some of his pay rolls. We will be interested fifty-fifty with his in the results of the packing house. Any fruit that is shipped will be shipped thru us. For the first year I do not expect there will be very much revenue. I think by working on a conservative basis we can in a year or so make a very nice little business from there. Investiga¬tions indicate that Strong is well thought of in Vera and by people who have done business with them, but that he has little financial responsibility at present. This is due chiefly to the fact that for the past two years he has endeavored to finance some farming operations and has to t. heavily in so doing, but so far as we have been able to ascertain all of his accounts are cleared up, but it has left him without funds .
#2 . Mr. S. O. Chase. October 29, 1936.
At Fort Pierce I stopped for a few minutes to look at the new Exchange house. It is a huge affair, and I expect one of the biggest in Florida. This is the house that Bill Mosley manages. The new building is down on the water front, right next to the pre-cooling terminals. They have two units of four sizers to each unit, all
equipped with stamping machines and the latest devices of all sort. My guess would be that the machinery in the building cost clost to $100,000.
The vegetable business around Vero and Fort
Pierce has been badly damaged by reins, most people think 50% or wore. The chances are the heavy rains now may wean good spring crops.
I continued over to Nocatee, where I spent the night. They have started picking Tangerines, and have 100
boxes in the coloring room. We estimate we can get two
or three cars of oranges right away, and they started picking yesterday. Oranges have not grown as much in the past few weeks as some of us thought they would. The trees at Nocatee that did not have to be cut back have about all the fruit on then they can carry. The color is good. The texture and shape is satisfactory.
Oranges and Tangerines will he gassed at Nocatee and trucked to Winter Haven where they will be color-added and packed.
Yesterday morning, I attended a meeting of the Control Committee in Lakeland. The prorate on grapefruit is 600 cars, no culls or thirds to be shipped; no restrictions on oranges; Tangerines no thirds to be shipped. They are having some com-plaints about color added treatments. It seems that the treat¬ment that has so far shown up the best, and store uniform, is that of the Food Machinery Company. The dye put out by the Fruit Treating Company, which is the Brogden Company, of Orlando, has shown up splotches and too deep a color. It is the general opinion of those at Lakeland that the next ten days or two weeks would be a very good time to ship oranges.
CHASE & CO.
SANFORD. FLORIDA
#3. Mr. S. 0. Chase. October 29, 19!6.
The complaint of nearly everyone at the meeting was that they could not get oranges to pass the test. I did not hear such about Tangerines being shipped, but if other people's are passing the test like ours are there will soon be a lot of them.
Affectionately,
RC
CC— Mr. J. C. Chase
Mr. T. A. Leffler
Mr. S. O. Chase Jr.
RC:HMR.
SANFORD. FLORIDA
October 29, 1936.
Mr. S. O. Cheese, Asheville, N. C.
Dear Dad:
Tuesday morning I left here and went down the east coast. I stopped for a short time at the Wabasso Grove. They have had a super-abundance of rain south of Melbourne. The trees on the Wabasso grove are looking excellent, end I cannot sec that there has been any damage resulting to the trees. The Hamlins on the young trees have split very badly, end my guess would be we have lost from 25 to 55% of the crop. Henry has the place well mowed, ditches open, and the work well in hand.
The old darky who once thought he wanted to sell his 40 acres adjoining ours has now decided he can get $80 an acre. He may be able to do it sometime this winter, as real estate values have ad¬vanced considerably and there is some activity in that territory.
At Vero Beach I spent some time with Jack Napier Strong, who has leased a packing house at that point, end will operate sort of a truck depot for citrus fruits and vegetables.
We have agreed to finance him to the extent of $1,500. for buying supplies, field crates, and some of his pay rolls. We will be interested fifty-fifty with his in the results of the packing house. Any fruit that is shipped will be shipped thru us. For the first year I do not expect there will be very much revenue. I think by working on a conservative basis we can in a year or so make a very nice little business from there. Investiga¬tions indicate that Strong is well thought of in Vera and by people who have done business with them, but that he has little financial responsibility at present. This is due chiefly to the fact that for the past two years he has endeavored to finance some farming operations and has to t. heavily in so doing, but so far as we have been able to ascertain all of his accounts are cleared up, but it has left him without funds .
#2 . Mr. S. O. Chase. October 29, 1936.
At Fort Pierce I stopped for a few minutes to look at the new Exchange house. It is a huge affair, and I expect one of the biggest in Florida. This is the house that Bill Mosley manages. The new building is down on the water front, right next to the pre-cooling terminals. They have two units of four sizers to each unit, all
equipped with stamping machines and the latest devices of all sort. My guess would be that the machinery in the building cost clost to $100,000.
The vegetable business around Vero and Fort
Pierce has been badly damaged by reins, most people think 50% or wore. The chances are the heavy rains now may wean good spring crops.
I continued over to Nocatee, where I spent the night. They have started picking Tangerines, and have 100
boxes in the coloring room. We estimate we can get two
or three cars of oranges right away, and they started picking yesterday. Oranges have not grown as much in the past few weeks as some of us thought they would. The trees at Nocatee that did not have to be cut back have about all the fruit on then they can carry. The color is good. The texture and shape is satisfactory.
Oranges and Tangerines will he gassed at Nocatee and trucked to Winter Haven where they will be color-added and packed.
Yesterday morning, I attended a meeting of the Control Committee in Lakeland. The prorate on grapefruit is 600 cars, no culls or thirds to be shipped; no restrictions on oranges; Tangerines no thirds to be shipped. They are having some com-plaints about color added treatments. It seems that the treat¬ment that has so far shown up the best, and store uniform, is that of the Food Machinery Company. The dye put out by the Fruit Treating Company, which is the Brogden Company, of Orlando, has shown up splotches and too deep a color. It is the general opinion of those at Lakeland that the next ten days or two weeks would be a very good time to ship oranges.
CHASE & CO.
SANFORD. FLORIDA
#3. Mr. S. 0. Chase. October 29, 19!6.
The complaint of nearly everyone at the meeting was that they could not get oranges to pass the test. I did not hear such about Tangerines being shipped, but if other people's are passing the test like ours are there will soon be a lot of them.
Affectionately,
RC
CC— Mr. J. C. Chase
Mr. T. A. Leffler
Mr. S. O. Chase Jr.
RC:HMR.
Document Item Type Metadata
Original Format
3 page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead
Collection
Citation
Chase, Randall, “Letter from Randall Chase to Sydney Chase (October 29, 1936),” RICHES, accessed April 28, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/669.