In 1893, the Mathison family homesteaded 160 acres on Stemilt Hill overlooking the Columbia River and the peaceful town of Wenatchee, Washington. By 1914, Thomas Cyle Mathison began planting cherry, apple, and pear orchards in the fertile soils of Stemilt Hill where high-elevation microclimates offered superior growing conditions for tree fruits.
In 1947 Chris Mathison, Thomas Cyle's son, died in a tragic accident that occurred as he tried to save an irrigation reservoir from destruction during a winter flood. The Mathison family persevered, continuing the hard work of maintaining the orchards. Chris Mathison's youngest son, Tom Mathison, took a leadership role in the family business after his father's death. In 1961, Tom was the driving force behind the construction of the family's first packinghouse, which was built on Stemilt Hill. In 1964, the family established their first controlled atmosphere storage room.
Expansion continued and by 1975 the Mathisons built a state-of-the-art apple, pear, and cherry packing storage facility at Olds Station in Wenatchee. The family moved the company headquarters from Stemilt Hill to the new location, and Olds Station became the hub of Stemilt Growers' operations.
Today, Tom Mathison is still as dedicated as ever to growing and delivering excellent fruit to the marketplace. In late June of 2005, Tom stepped down from the leadership of the company and became Stemilt's Chairman of the Board. He is still very active today in the company, providing guidance and vision for the future.
Tom's grandson West Mathison stepped into the presidency of the company in June 2005 after several years as the company Executive Vice President. West has taken many steps to make Stemilt an even stronger business entity. New packing plants, storage facilities, orchard operations and marketing partnerships have transformed Stemilt into a major player in the tree fruit industry:
|
1975 |
Olds Station facility in Wenatchee completed, becoming Stemilt's main operation. |
|
1984 |
Stemilt Management, Inc. forms serving as an orchard management firm. |
|
1986 |
Stemilt purchases its Columbia Street plant in Wenatchee from Welch Fruit. |
|
1988 |
Cherry fumigation added to Olds Station plant enabling cherry exports to Japan. |
|
1989 |
R & D department established; Responsible Choice program launched. |
|
1990-1995 |
Receiving/storage facilities constructed in Pasco and Quincy, Washington, to service Stemilt's growers in the Columbia Basin. |
|
1997-1998 |
Complete revamp of Olds Station plant adds a new hand pack line, two tray-fill lines, and a bagging line, bringing state-of-the-art automation to the apple industry. |
|
1999 |
Exportadora Stemilt Chile Limitada - Stemilt forms an export company in Chile for apples and cherries. |
|
2000 |
After several years of research and development, non-destructive sweetness testing based on near-infrared technology (NIR) is put on line. |
|
April 2003 |
Stemilt purchases majority ownership of Chinchiolo Fruit Co. in Stockton, California, one of the largest shippers of California cherries; Company is named Chinchiolo Stemilt California. |
|
May 2003 |
Stemilt forms an agreement with Sierra Hills in Stockton, California, to market their apples and pears. The former Sierra Hills Marketing team becomes part of the Stemilt sales & marketing staff but remains based in Stockton, California. |
|
May 2003 |
Marketing alliance formed between Stemilt and Douglas Fruit Co. of Pasco, Washington, one of the state's largest soft fruit shippers; Douglas sales staff joins Stemilt sales & marketing, most of which remain based in Pasco. |
|
July 2003 |
Stemilt dedicates its newly purchased packing and storage plant, a former Dole Fruit Co. operation located in Chelan, Washington, as a facility solely for organic fruit handling; Organic apple varieties begin to be packed in the fall of 2003. |
|
August 2004 |
Stemilt acquires the exclusive rights to market and propagate the Pinova apple variety. Stemilt renames the apple Piñata!® |
|
October 2004 |
Stemilt creates a marketing alliance with Pepin Heights Growers, a fruit grower-packer-shipper in Lake City, Minn. |
|
March 2005 |
Stemilt earns the Diamond Crystal Award for its health-related promotional programs in 2004. The honor is the highest award given by the Produce for Better Health Foundation, representing the produce industry nationwide. |
|
April 2005 |
Chinchiolo Stemilt California installs an all-new Rainier cherry line in Stockton. |
|
June 2005 |
Stemilt launches cherry promotion with Sesame Workshop and features Elmo from the children's program Sesame Street. |
|
June 2005 |
Stemilt installs a blueberry line at its Miller Street facility and begins packing, shipping, and marketing Stemilt Hill Blues. |
|
July 2005 |
Tom Mathison, Stemilt founder, becomes Chairman of the Stemilt Board and transfers the presidency of the company to grandson West Mathison. |
|
November 2005 |
Stemilt launches Bountiful Fruit, an on-line gift fruit business. |
|
May 2006 |
Stemilt signs an agreement with Warmerdam Packing LLC of Hanford, Calif., allowing Stemilt exclusive rights to grow, pack, and market all cherries from the Sequoia™ group produced in Washington. |