The Iowa Fruit Company was organized in 1914 with F.M. Glancy as Sales Manager; J.C. Wardlow was appointed secretary in 1917. After Mr. Glancy died in 1922 the company appointed J.C. Wardlow as the manager of Sales and Shipping.

There were about 200 acres of strawberries grown in the Montrose area. J.C. Wardlow was one of the largest growers. Some names of other large growers were; Le Fevre, Curtis Brothers, Lee Davis, Ben Mitchell, Fred Thon, Charles Sprott, Kennedy Brothers, Charles Reed, Charles Moon, and Henry Waider.

In a good season an acre of strawberries would produce 250, 24 quart cases. Sales would often reach $10,000 or $12,000 in one day. It was not uncommon in a good year to ship 50 rail cars of strawberries from Montrose.

~~~~~~~ Information taken from the Montrose History Collections located at the Montrose library~~~~~~~
~~~~Picture courtesy of the Montrose library~~~~