Loomis Legacy Loop

There is another Penryn Fruit Co label located in tiles along the sidewalks on Taylor Road downtown- Can you find it?

*Westside Brand-California Mountain Pears
*Keystone Ranch-Persimmons and Asian pears
* Penryn Fruit Co.- Fancy California Fruits
*Blue Goose -Pears
*Penryn Fruit Co.- Fancy California Fruits
*Summit-Pears
*Milo Brant -Cherries
*Blue X Brand Fruit
*Covered Wagon Mountain Bartletts
*Placer Brand –Cherries
* Malaga Grapes – Mountain Grown Grapes
*Herbert & Taylor Choice- Mountain Fruit
*Colfax Fruit Growers Association - Bartlett Pears
*Yellow Hammer Brand -Early Bird Yellow Navel Oranges
*Woodpecker Brand - Sunkist
*PET – Fancy Mountain Pears
*Mont` Elisa Beauty - Grapes
*Roseville Belle Brand – Grapes
* Auburn Brand – California Mountain Fruit
*Lincoln- Oranges
*Camel Brand – Mountain Pears
*Auburn Brand- California Persimmons

LOOMIS BASIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S THROWBACK THURSDAY: Harry E. Butler

Harry Everett Butler, long-time manager of the Penryn Fruit Company, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1871. The youngest of eight children of Phineas W. and Caroline Butler, he came to California with his parents when he was nine years old.

Harry’s father, P.W. Butler, had a grocery business in Oakland and orchard property in Penryn. He was an early promoter of the fruit industry, being vice president of the Placer County Citrus Colony and founding president of the Penryn Fruit Company.

Harry attended school in Oakland and spent vacations in Penryn working in his father’s orchards. In 1892, he became a partner in the Browning-Butler Nursery Company of Paso Robles. He sold out his interest after two years and returned to Penryn where he farmed while living among the English settlers of the Citrus Colony. He became manager and treasurer of Penryn Fruit Company in April 1894.

Harry Butler was well-known in the fruit industry as both a grower and a shipper. In 1902, he helped organize the California Fruit Distributors, serving as president in 1920-1921. He became president of the Standard Fruit Company in 1910. And he was president of the California Deciduous Fruit Companies, an association of California fresh fruit shippers. He devoted much of his time to securing standardization of fruit packs and to the adoption of standardization laws.

In 1914, Harry diversified into rice growing. This led to an incident in 1917. He was involved in a railroad accident near Biggs where he had large rice holdings. He was driving over a railroad crossing when a backing freight train ran into him. He saved himself by jumping. His auto, a new one, was completely demolished.

During WWI, Harry Butler served on the Placer County Draft Board. He was a director of the Placer County Bank, and he was member of Penryn Masonic Lodge, the Penryn Camp of the Woodmen of the World, and the Placer County Country Club of Auburn.

With the drop in fruit prices during the Great Depression, Harry Butler was caught in the crash. After the closure of the Penryn Fruit Company in 1941, he retired to Oakland where he resided the remainder of his life. During his retirement years, he enjoyed writing and was a frequent contributor to “The Knave,” a Sunday column in the Oakland Tribune newspaper, where he often recounted stories of early life in Penryn. He died in 1965 at the age of 94.

A photo of Harry Butler is shown here with one of the beautiful Penryn Fruit Company labels. Penryn’s Butler Road is his namesake.