When you think of raisins, you might think of the illustration of a young woman in a red bonnet, holding a basket of grapes on the iconic Sun Maid box. But what about the real women who were the pioneers of Fresno’s raisin industry? Their story, today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots.
When M. Theo Kearney was promoting Fresno’s Central California Colony to San Francisco investors, one of the first to buy in was school teacher Minnie Austin. Originally from from Nantucket, Austin was burned-out from classroom work in both Chicago and San Francisco.
At age 40, she and fellow schoolteacher Lucy Hatch, established the Hedgerow Vineyard east of Fresno. They also had two silent partners, fellow female school teachers E.A. Cleveland and J. B. Short, who invested but never moved to Fresno. Austin and Hatch shipped their first raisin crop in 1878, and were likely the first to ship packaged raisins from Fresno, under the Austin brand.
Their business boomed and the vineyard eventually grew to around 100 acres on Elm Avenue south of Fresno. By 1886, they were shipping 7,500 boxes a year. Austin became a leading viticulturist and innovator. The retired teachers were the first to apply sulphur to grapes during bloom, which boosted the size of their crop. They were also the first to use a raisin dehydrator.
Austin died in 1889, but Hatch lived until 1926, and remained involved in raisin industry affairs into the 1920s. She was a strong advocate for growers staying united under the Sun Maid banner.
