Home About Us Citrus Label History President's Message Feature Article Meeting Dates Contact Us
 
Feature Article

Various Flights of the Golden Eagle Brand
By John B. Bowen

Though the citrus Golden Eagle Brand was used extensively by the Chapman brothers—after they acquired a fruit ranch in Placentia, California and an orange orchard in Covina, California in 1894—the brand is believed to have first appeared in 1890 for the marketing of citrus grown on Michael Baldridge's orchards in Covina, East San Gabriel Valley, California.

This article describes the various applications of the Golden Eagle image on citrus packing box labels, and provides illustrations showing variations of the eagle's image—from a majestic, perched pose to an expansive, spread-wing pose.

Michael Baldridge

When the Covina townsite was formed in 1885, Michael Baldridge owned the first nursery in the valley at a ranch on Cypress Ave. Soon orange groves appeared in the area, with Joseph Swift Phillips planting the first grove—twelve acres at the intersection of Hollenbeck and San Bernardino roads. The next groves were planted by the Adams, Overholtzer, and Joe families. All of these early orchards were successful, and subsequently many more orchards were planted. Initially, marketing the fruit was a serious issue, but the formation of the Azusa, Covina, and Glendora Fruit Exchange in the late 1890s solved the packing and shipping problems.

By 1891, Baldridge owned an active orange grove, as evidenced by a legal claim that said some of his trees had wood borers and his orchard should be quarantined. The claim was made after an inspection of his grove found borers in orange trees. However, a follow-up investigation of the dead and adjacent trees revealed the trees had died from gum disease and were not killed by borers.

Baldridge Golden Eagle orange label
Michael Baldridge Golden Eagle Brand label
(click/tap image to view it larger in a separate window/tab)

Baldridge marketed his oranges using the Golden Eagle Brand. An approximate representation of the shipping box label design is depicted in the image shown to the right which was sketched from a copy of the original black and white label from the Clyde Searcy collection which also includes Baldridge's portrait obtained from another source. Under the right wing of the eagle is Baldridge’s home built of stone. In the left bottom corner is the annotation:

"Etna Green" Orchard 5000 trees
Chocolate Mart Belt, East San Gabriel Valley
They will "Testify for business" if put on the stand
I pack only my own output
Yours respectively, M. Baldridge
Covina, Los Angeles, Cal

About 1894, Baldridge sold his Etna Green ranch to brothers Frank and Charles Chapman in exchange for their printing business in Chicago. Not long afterwards, on May 28, 1898, the Covina Fruit Exchange was organized. In the first year, 299 cars of fruit were shipped through this exchange, bringing in $143,688 to the growers. Steady increases followed; 1050 cars of fruit were shipped in 1910 and 1911, with the growers receiving $737,367.

Frank and Charles Chapman

Both Frank and Charles Chapman agreed to use an attractive design on their labels so that their shipping boxes would draw attention at auctions in the East. After the summer of 1894, when both brothers had moved to Southern California to manage their newly-acquired fruit ranches in Covina and Placentia, they arranged for a small printer to design the image for the Chapman's Old Mission Brand. This brand represented their top quality fruit. A newspaper article from that period reported the Chapman brothers shipped a large crop of oranges from their orchards in Placentia in January 1895.

Frank M. Chapman Golden Eagle orange label
Frank M. Chapman Golden Eagle Brand label
(click/tap image to view it larger in a separate window/tab)
Charles C. Chapman Golden Eagle orange label
Charles C. Chapman Golden Eagle Brand label
(click/tap image to view it larger in a separate window/tab)

The Chapman's Golden Eagle Brand represented their choice quality fruit. The brand name was likely taken from Michael Baldridge and is listed in the 1900 issue of the Citrus Brand Register. The original label design was printed by Schmidt circa 1900 to 1915. Frank Chapman's version, shown left. The image in this version depicts the eagle in a perched position. In the lower right corner, "California Oranges" is printed with the word "Oranges" in large lettering. The bottom left of the label reads:

Grown and packed by
Frank M. Chapman
Covina, California

Charles Chapman also used the early version of the Chapman's Golden Eagle Brand label, shown left. The image in this version likewise depicts the eagle in a perched position. In the lower right corner, "California Oranges" is printed with the word "Oranges" in large lettering. The bottom left of the label reads:

Grown and packed by
Chas C. Chapman
Fullerton, Orange Co., Cal.

Western Litho Company in Los Angeles was employed to re-design the Golden Eagle image from the perched pose to a spread-wing pose. In addition, “Chapman's” was deleted from the brand name, and “An Exclusive Chapman Pack” was added beneath the brand name. A header was also added to identify the fruit variety, such as Valencias, Valencia Lates, or Lemons. There are instances where the header was cropped.

Following Frank Chapman's death in 1909, his citrus fruit enterprise continued with the annotation:

Grown and Packed by
Estate of
Col. Frank M. Chapman
Covina, California

While there is no known record of the use of Chapman's Golden Eagle Brand by the estate enterprise, the Citrus Roots Foundation California Brand List includes a Golden Eagle Brand used by Frank M. Chapman.

Below are two examples of these Golden Eagle Brand shipping box labels. Annotations at the bottom read:

Charles C. Chapman,
Fullerton. Orange County, California

Charles C. Chapman Golden Eagle orange label   Charles C. Chapman Golden Eagle lemon label
(click/tap an image to view it larger in a separate window/tab)

Venture into Central California

Chapman Orchards (El Mirador) Golden Eagle orange label
Chapman Orchards (El Mirador) Golden Eagle Brand label
(click/tap image to view it larger in a separate window/tab)

In 1926, Frank and Charles Chapman purchased the Gillette Ranch in Lindsay, Tulare County, California. Renamed Chapman Orchards, this ranch was managed by their sons, respectively Frank and Stanley. They had a dedicated railroad siding which was named El Mirador.

All of the Chapman labels were used, including the Golden Eagle Brand as well as existing Gillette labels, which were modified.

Shown left is the Golden Eagle Brand label. Annotations at the bottom read:

Grown & Packed by
Chapman Orchards,
El Mirador, Tulare County, California

Placentia Orchard Company

Placentia Orchard Golden Eagle orange label
Placentia Orchard Golden Eagle Brand label
courtesy Citrus Roots Foundation
(click/tap image to view it larger in a separate window/tab)

The Golden Eagle Brand label was modified again in 1940 when Charles Chapman deleted the header and printed the fruit variety above the brand name. In addition, he switched the grower and shipper annotation from Charles C. Chapman to Placentia Orchard Company on all of his labels. However, the Golden Eagle still resided in Fullerton, as shown by the Golden Eagle Brand label at left.

The annotation across the bottom reads:

Grown and shipped by Placentia Orchard Company
Operated under personal direction of Charles C. Chapman for more than fifty years
Fullerton, California
Orange County

Other Organizations

The Citrus Roots Foundation California Brand List includes two other organizations that used the Golden Eagle Brand: Redlands Foothill Groves and I.L. Lyon & Sons of Redlands, both of which may have been associated with Michael Baldridge. In addition, Golden Eagle Brand is listed as a stock label.

Illustrator's View of Eagle Images

The Golden Eagle Brand image changed several times throughout the years of its usage.

Looking at the first known use of the Golden Eagle Brand image in 1891 by Michael Baldridge of Covina, the eagle shared space with Baldridge's portrait and stone home.

Next, the image of the golden eagle can be seen majestically perched on a branch in the Chapman's Golden Eagle Brand used by Frank and Charles Chapman in the early 1900s in Covina and Fullerton.

During the early 1920s, Charles Chapman replaced the image with the eye-opening, spread-wing pose of the Golden Eagle.

In 1926, one version of the Golden Eagle orange label flew to Lindsay, California for a short stay on the Gillette Ranch, and then rejoined other Golden Eagles in Fullerton with the same image. For the version of the lemon label, the illustrator took advantage of wider image space, and spread the eagle's wings a bit to show that it was ready to take flight with its fruit in tow.

The Golden Eagle Brand label continued to be used in the early 1940s.

Contributors and Sources for This Article

  • Clyde Searcy, Citrus Label Society
  • Citrus Roots Foundation California Brands List
  • Citrus Roots Foundation Citrus Label Store
  • Irvin Clarke Chapman (son of Charles C. Chapman)
  • Sally Finnila-Sloane (executive assistant, ICC Enterprises)
  • Virginia L. Carpenter (former librarian, City of Placentia)
Click/tap the button below for past articles:

Feature Article Archives