Week 67: El Verjel Cannery

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The San Marcos Hotel drew many winter visitors to Chandler with its fine winter weather.  One of these winter visitors was an ink and printer magnate from Chicago named George Lewis.  He was so impressed with the Chandler area that he bought 40 acres in 1913 and built a $4,000 dollar home on it, which was the second most expensive home in town.  He planted acres of fruit trees on his ranch, and supported his winter home by selling fresh fruit.

The entrance of the US into World War I in 1917 caused increased demand on many industries, from war machines to cotton for tires and parachutes to foodstuffs.  Seeing an opportunity to meet this new demand, Lewis opened a cannery in Chandler.  Located on Frye Road, the cannery was initially a small operation with hand operated equipment.  The initial supply of fruit came from Lewis’ own ranch.  But soon demand outpaced supply and the cannery was pushing local farmers to grow fruit, promising good profits.  The cannery, known as El Verjel Rancho, produced honey, peanut butter, jellies and jams, and canned fruit.

By 1921, it was estimated that more than 200 acres of trees were producing fruit in the Chandler district.  Local farmers grew a variety of fruit, including several varieties of peaches, plums, quince, figs, and apricots.  The Chandler Arizonan reported on the success of these farmers under the headline “Nice Profits.”  One unidentified farmer had only 17 trees.  They produced nearly 3,500 pounds of fruit, for which he was paid the “premium” price of a half a cent per pound.  The “premium” value came from the fact that his peaches were so large, weighing in at 7 ounces each. 

The cannery itself was a modern marvel of sorts.  New machinery was installed in 1921, allowing El Verjel Rancho to speed up their production, doubling their output in two fewer hours.  This included the bottling and labeling processes.  That same year they also installed a bronze brass pulper, capable of producing 50 tons of juice daily.  The Arizonan boasted that there was no finer pulper in use even in California.  Jam was produced in a glass-lined tank that could rapidly be heated and cooled as needed and was capable of producing 750 pounds of jam daily.

In 1924, the cannery was ready to expand again.  At a meeting of the Chandler Chamber of Commerce, representatives from the cannery and the Western States Security Company laid out a plan to raise $50,000 in capital by selling stock in the company to local residents.  The Arizonan helped the cause by arguing that the annual payroll alone would top $40,000, most of which would be spent in town.  The paper also argued that the cannery would continue to attract fruit farmers to the area, bringing more spending and growing the local economy.  It concluded “This proposition should receive the encouragement of every one interested in the advancement of Chandler.”

The push for investors was successful, and allowed El Verjel to expand into the blossoming citrus business.  By 1927, they were canning grapefruit and shipping grapefruit juice concentrate across the country and even to England.  That year, El Verjel processed over one million grapefruit, and claimed to be the only outfit processing the fruit outside of Florida, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico.

Regardless of the growth of the cannery, a general slowdown in the canned fruit business starting in about 1927 put a strain on El Verjel.  As sales slumped, Lewis refused to call in debts from local farmers, creating a serious cash flow issue for the business from which it never recovered.  El Verjel Rancho closed its doors in 1927.  Lewis’ son, Webster, moved to Phoenix, where he continued to run a small grapefruit juicing operation until 1933, when he moved to San Diego. 

George Lewis himself passed away in 1929.  He suffered a stroke while reading.  He said to his son, Webster, “I am going to finish this story if it’s the last thing I do.”  Within an hour he had died.  The father of one of Chandler’s largest early industries was laid to rest in the Mesa Cemetery having left a huge imprint on the small town’s local economy.