Manuscripts Record
Metadata
Catalog Number |
759.001 |
Title |
CHASE GARDENS & FAMILY COLLECTION |
Date |
1898-1980 |
Scope & Content |
CHASE GARDENS & FAMILY COLLECTION INVENTORY: SCOPE & CONTENT NOTE Chase Gardens, a leading Lane County nursery and flower producer for many years, was founded by Frank B. Chase, a Kansas farmer who came to the Eugene area and purchased part of the Mahlon Harlow donation land claim. Originally, he planned to raise cattle, then changed his focus to planting an orchard, and finally settled on truck farming and raising vegetables (mainly tomatoes, cucumbers and celery.) His sons, Clarence A., Elmo B. and Merle D. Chase, and their partner, Bernard Holtan, expanded the business and began intensive cultivation of flowers in 1921. They added a specialization in gardenias in 1933, participating in its development as one of the most popular of corsage flowers. In 1934 they began raising orchids in volume, after Clarence Chase flew to South America to collect the orchid specimens from their native habitat. Chase Gardens has been a flower industry leader in terms of introducing commercial irrigation, advanced greenhouse operations (10 acres under glass), steam heating for the greenhouses, proper handling and pre-cooling of cut flowers to prolong their life, installation of a conveyor-belt packing line and refrigerated air and ground transport for their products. The company also developed several patented flowers including the red Chase Beauty rose, the burnt-orange Carioca, and the ruby-red Royal Rapture, and has won numerous awards at expositions. Their Eugene cut-flower retail outlet was established in 1925, a Portland wholesale outlet in 1941 and a retail seed outlet in Eugene in 1946. The business is still in operation today as Chase Flowers and Gifts at 2110 Main Street in Springfield, Oregon. The collection includes photos and documents regarding the business and the large Chase family generally. IN FOLDER 1 (THIS FOLDER) ---Brochure: "60th Anniversary: Chase Gardens, Oregon." 1949. Details history of the company and its innovations and accomplishments. ---"The Chase Family: A Father and Two Sons." By Orpha Chase. Published in the Lane County Historian, Vol, 9 p. 11, April 1964. Biography of Frank Chase's family. ---Document entitled "Age of Trees: Planted by Frank B. Chase, Chase Gardens." Lists trees planted by year and their locations. 1 page. No date. ---Copy of Chase Gardens logo. No date. ---Cover sheet from "40th Anniversary: Extracts from Managers Report, Eugene Fruit Growers Association, Eugene, Oregon, Season of 1947." Has photos of EFGA founders and first board of directors, including Frank B. Chase. ---Article from the Oregon Flower Grower, no date, entitled "Chase Gardens Founder Watered Half-Acre in 1890 - 50,000 Now." 3 pages. ---Copies of Bruce Chase entry stating that the F. B. Chase Orchid was # 126 in their "Stud Book." ---List of Chase family letters (and their dates) in possession of the donor. 3 pages. ---1949 Spring Flowering Bulbs seed catalog from Chase of Eugene, 101 East Broadway, Eugene, Oregon. 15 pages. |