Philippine Government Officials Bet Big on Kennewick Orchards
Investors return from service in Manila to launch a $125,000 fruit enterprise on the Highlands, aiming to stabilize the local market with a new canning and by-products plant.
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The largest transfer of improved fruit lands ever recorded in the county was made this week when Dr. Mary Hudson sold her entire holdings on the Highlands, consisting of 92 acres of orchard and farm home, to the Highland Fruit Company. The new company, capitalized at $125,000, is owned by J. W. Vickers, Wm. Hirzel, and their associates currently in Manila. In addition to the Hudson land, the company is negotiating for an additional 80 acres. The tract is planted with Winesap, Rome Beauty, and Jonathan apple trees. Plans for the company include a canning and by-products plant to handle unmarketable fruit and vegetables. Both Vickers and Hirzel have recently returned from government service in the Philippines, where Mr. Vickers served for 16 years. They are joined by other associates still working for the bureaus of public works and agriculture in the Islands.
“The future of the Kennewick district as one of the richest horticultural sections of the country is certain.”
This 1915 investment reflects the early era of Kennewick's agricultural identity as an export-driven powerhouse. Today, the Highlands remain a core part of the region's agricultural landscape, though the scale of corporate-style fruit land consolidation continues to shape the local economy and housing availability.
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