Editing Redlands, California (section)

===Citrus===
[[File:Redlands, California. Packing oranges at a cooperative packing plant..jpg|thumb|upright|Women packing oranges at the [[Sunkist Growers, Incorporated|Sunkist]] packing plant in Redlands, 1943]]

In the spring of 1882, Mr. E. J. Waite of [[Wisconsin]] planted the first orange grove in the city.  For almost 75 years, the city was the center of the largest [[orange (fruit)#Navel|navel orange]]-producing region in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Citrus Preservation |url=http://www.cityofredlands.org/qol/citrus |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315004622/http://cityofredlands.org/qol/citrus |archive-date=March 15, 2015 |access-date=March 31, 2015 |publisher=City of Redlands}}</ref> By the late 1930s, Redlands was a fruit-packing center surrounded by more than {{convert|15000|acre|km2}} of citrus groves.  The city produced more than 4,200 railcars of navel oranges and 1,300 cars of [[Valencia orange]]s during the 1937–38 growing season.<ref>Workers of the Writers' Program (1941). ''Los Angeles: A Guide to the City and its Environs.'' Hastings House Press.</ref> During the 1930s and 1940s, labor activists campaigned in the [[Canning|canneries]] and packing houses for [[Trade union|union]] representation and higher wages.  The United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA) won 13 National Labor Relations Board representation elections in the Riverside-Redlands area in 1943.  In 1945, the first annual Orange Queen Ball at the Redlands City Auditorium was held to raise funds for the union.<ref>Vicki L. Ruiz.  ''Cannery Women, Cannery Lives.'' University of New Mexico Press, 1987, pp. 81–83.</ref>

The citrus industry declined in the area as more agricultural areas were replaced by [[Subdivision (land)|subdivisions]], and all three citrus packing houses (two in downtown and one on San Bernardino Avenue) had closed by the end of the 1900s.  Today only one packing house remains to serve the needs of approximately the {{convert|2500|acre|km2}} of citrus that remains in production in the area.