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83 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, May 1, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend April 3, 2004 A brief history of Bear Creek Corp. 1885 — Albert Weeks plants Bear Creek Orchard, the second commercial orchard established in the Rogue Valley, shortly after J.H. Stewart planted the first. Hunt Lewis then acquired the orchard from Weeks. 1908 — Lewis sells to the real estate syndicate of Whisler, Olwell, Clark and Myers. The group quickly puts the property back on the market. 1909 — Bear Creek enters pears in the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, winning several first prizes. The pears catch the interest of prominent Seattle businessman Samuel Rosenberg. 1910 — Rosenberg acquires the Bear Creek Orchard. His sons Harry and David, after completing their agriculture studies at Cornell University, move to Medford to manage the property. 1921 — A new packing house is built followed by a pre-cooling plant in 1923. 1929 — The Great Depression causes a decline in the pear industry. Advertisement 1934 — Harry Rosenberg markets pears, at the suggestion of marketer G Lynn Sumner, directly to some of New York’s wealthiest men, including Walter P. Chrysler, RCA chief David Sarnoff and General Electric Chairman Owen Young. A day later, he receives orders for 457 gift boxes. 1936 — Sales of Royal Riviera pears soar and a full-page ad appears in Fortune Magazine. 1937 — A "Box of the Month" plan is launched. It became the Rare Fruit Club and later the Fruit of the Month Club. Bear Creek’s twin art-deco towers are also added to the packing house at the company’s South Pacific Highway campus. 1938 — Concerned by rising anti-Semitism, the Rosenberg family changes its surname to Holmes. The company adopts a baked pear recipe. 1943 — World War II leads to a shortage of pickers. 1946 — The mail order business is officially incorporated under the name "Harry and David." 1950 — David Holmes dies from injuries suffered in an automobile accident near Woodland, Calif. 1966 — The Holmes family acquires Jackson & Perkins, a Newark, N.Y., rose company, giving the company two peak seasons. 1974 — Harry and David is renamed Bear Creek Corp. 1984 — R.J. Reynolds Company of Winston-Salem, N.C., purchases Bear Creek Corp. 1986 — Shaklee Corp. of Oakland, Calif., purchases the company from RJR/Nabisco. 1989 — Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical of Tokyo buys Bear Creek Corp. 2003 — A five-year, $50 million expansion is announced and a 35,000-square-foot, 600-seat call center inside a $12 million 75,000-square-foot structure is opened. April 2004 — Wasserstein & Co., a New York limited partnership headed by Bruce Wasserstein, agrees to purchase Bear Creek Corp. from Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical for $260 million. Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times