GEORGE M.
BOWMAN
GARDEN CITY NATIONAL BANK OF SAN JOSE
Bio-Pen Pictures
George M. Bowman,
vice-president of the Garden City National Bank of San Jose, is also
superintendent and secretary of the Golden Gate Packing Company, and has had
charge of the extensive business of this company in his present capacity for
eleven years, during which time it has grown to be one of the largest
fruit-packing establishments on the Pacific Coast. The company was incorporated
in 1877, some of the members composing it have started the fruit-canning
business in a small way on the site of the present works, Third and Fourth
Streets, between Julian and Hensley Avenue, two years previously. The company
increased the facility for the business by erecting new buildings and other
improvements the first year after its incorporation. In 1881 the entire plant
was destroyed by fire. New and larger buildings immediately succeeded the old
ones, which were fitted up with the best and most approved machinery,
constituting a plant worth $50,000. They manufacture most of the cans used, and
their pack, which averages one million, nine hundred and twenty-five thousand
cans, includes vegetables and all the varieties of fruits grown in the Santa
Clara Valley. During the busy season, from four hundred to four hundred and
fifty hands are employed. The constant aim of the management has been to attain
the highest standard of excellence for their goods, and the “Golden Gate” brand
is recognized by dealers and consumers, wherever introduced, as having no
superior. The principal market for their product is the New England States,
though their goods are shipped to all parts of the United States, and to Canada,
England, India, and Australia. Their fruits are carefully selected, put up in
heavy syrup made from the best white sugar, and are held in such high esteem
that they have had an extensive sale in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.
Messrs. Cross & Blackwell, of London, England (the celebrated pickle firm),
proposed to become the sole agents for Great Britain for the “Golden Gate”
apricots, and to handle no others. Mr. Bowman, to whose careful and able
management the present enviable reputation and success of this company is
largely due, is a native of Iowa, born in Dubuque forty-four years ago; was
educated at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, and came to California in
1866. Previous to engaging in the canning business he was employed ten years by
the Wells, Fargo Express Company. He married Miss A. C. Coldren, at Boone,
Iowa, in 1866, who was educated at the same institution as himself. The family
consists of two sons and one daughter, and their home is one of the handsomest
in the Garden City.
Pen Pictures From The
Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated.
- Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 175-176
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler