The California Beet Sugar Company (also known as the Standard Sugar Refining Company, Pacific Coast Sugar Company, Alameda Sugar Company, and the Holly Sugar Company) was the first successful

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...

factory in the United States. It was located in Alvarado, which has been incorporated into the city of Union City and its site is on the California Historical Landmarks list.

History

The sugar factory was started in 1870 by

E. H. Dyer Ebenezer Herrick Dyer (April 17, 1822 – 1906) was an American businessman who established the first successful commercial beet sugar mill in the U.S., and as such, was called the "father of the American beet sugar industry". Dyer was born in ...

, his brother Ephriam Dyer, C.I. Hutchinson, who served as president, W.F. Garratt, B.P. Flint, T.G. Phelps, W.B. Carr, E.R. Carpenter, and E.G. Rollins. The factory was built on farmland owned by Dyer. B.F. Ingalls served as the architect and builder. The factory opened officially on November 15, 1870. The machines used in the factory were imported from Germany. The building was located along the Alameda Creek, for transportation purposes, since there weren't any railroads. Sugar was distributed via a wheel steamer named "The Rosa," to San Francisco from the factory. In the first year of production it processed 293 tons of beet sugar. In 1873 the factory closed due to financial reasons. The equipment was sold to another plant in Soquel, California. The factory was demolished in 1977. Imperial Sugar bought Holly Sugar Company in 1988.

Legacy

One predecessor to the Alvarado factory was Germania Sugar, founded by Ernst Theodore and Gottlieb Gennert in Chatsworth Illinois in 1863. An insufficient water supply and soil which was poorly suited to sugar beets led to disbanding the Chatsworth operation in 1870. While not a commercial success, lessons from the Chatsworth venture were valuable to beet sugar cultivation and manufacture elsewhere in the United States. The former site of the factory is listed on the California Historical Landmarks list. E.H. Dyer passed away in 1906. Dyer Street in Union City has been named after him in his honor.

References

{{reflist Union City, California California Historical Landmarks 1870 establishments in California Companies based in Alameda County, California Companies based in Union City, California Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area Agriculture in California Food and drink companies based in California Sugar companies of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area