cover of the stark fruit book 1901 stark bro s nurseries & orchards co. is a horticultural company based in louisiana missouri that specializes in growing and selling fruit trees to home gardeners and commercial orchardists . the company was the original marketer of the red delicious and golden delicious apples . contents 1 history 2 presidents 3 current operation 4 references 5 external links history edit in 1816 james hart stark moved from kentucky to louisiana missouri . he brought with him a bundle of apple scions . from his bundle he started a nursery business which was officially incorporated in 1889 . in 1893 stark bro s held their first international new fruit fair . jesse hiatt who owned an orchard in peru iowa sent samples of his fruit to compete in the contest for the best new fruit . hiatt s apples won the judging but his nametag could not be found . he submitted samples of the same apple the following year and won again . this time there was a nametag and the apples could be identified . the stark brothers traveled to the hiatt farm and bought the rights to the red delicious apple in 1894 . 1 2 in 1914 the stark golden delicious apple was discovered and developed . the original tree was found on the mullins family farm in clay county west virginia and was locally known as mullin s yellow seedling and annit apple . anderson mullins sold the tree and propagation rights to stark bro s nurseries & orchards co. which first marketed it as a companion to their red delicious apple in 1914 . 3 4 they collaborated with luther burbank who willed over 750 of his varieties to the company . in june 2001 the possibility of closure to stark brothers nurseries louisiana missouri s oldest and largest employer famous worldwide for the fruit trees it grew and sold was a reality . 5 however the alarm was short lived . by fall of that year stark bro s was back as two separate business stark bro s fulfillment services and stark brothers nurseries and orchards . presidents edit james hart stark william watts stark 6 clarence mcdowell stark edgar winfred stark clay hamilton stark edwin jackson stark john stark logan clay stark logan 7 cameron g. brown current operation edit stark bro s has three main business areas e commerce mail order wholesale and the retail garden center . the operations include 8 250 growing acres in louisiana 427 growing acres in atlas il 1 million cubic feet of climate controlled warehouse space 1 million cubic feet of non refrigerated work storage area 1.7 million cubic feet of cold storage 5 acres of greenhouses 30 000 square feet of office space one million trees per year are shipped from stark bro s facilities . references edit wikimedia commons has media related to stark brothers nurseries and orchards . about stark bro s . stark bro s nurseries & orchards co. retrieved 6 december 2015 . in 1816 james hart stark and a small band of pioneers moved west from kentucky and settled on the west bank of the mississippi in a place that would later become louisiana missouri . ... zotta leann 2015 . 200 years and growing the story of stark bro s nurseries & orchards co. ingramspark . pp. 65 67 . isbn 978 0 692 31291 9 . retrieved 22 december 2015 . higgins adrian august 5 2005 . why the red delicious no longer is . decades of makeovers alter apple to its core . . the washington post . retrieved 2008 07 27 . when stark s successors in a similar stunt found and named the golden delicious growing in west virginia in 1914 the delicious became red delicious . dunbar man discoverer of golden delicious apple . charleston daily mail . october 18 1962 . retrieved 2008 07 27 . the starks sent a man to look at the tree just like you ve heard and they bought the tree and the ground for 30 feet around it and eventually they fenced it . they were to get all the fruit from the tree down to the last apple . louisiana mo. survives by adapting to change . april 2008 . federal reserve bank of st. louis 1 zotta leann 2015 . 200 years and growing the story of stark bro s nurseries & orchards co. ingramspark . p. 26 . isbn 978 0 692 31291 9 . retrieved 22 december 2015 . yang linda july 11 1991 . year round beauty and the berries aren t bad either . new york times . retrieved 2008 07 27 . small fruiting plants like blueberries are becoming increasingly popular with homeowners said clay stark logan president of stark brothers nursery of louisiana mo. probably only strawberries are presently more popular said mr. logan whose family owned company which dates to 1816 ships fruiting plants nationwide . zotta leann 2015 . 200 years and growing the story of stark bro s nurseries & orchards co. ingramspark . p. 3 . isbn 978 0 692 31291 9 . retrieved 22 december 2015 . external links edit stark bro s nurseries & orchards co. homepage retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title stark brothers nurseries and orchards & oldid 711102615 categories tree nurseriesfruit tree nurseriesplant nurserieslouisiana missouripike county missourihidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 20 march 2016 at 22 21 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy 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