A blog about living in Aberdeen, New Jersey.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

History: Worthley Canning Factory (1907)

The 12 Dec 1907 edition of The Matawan Journal contains a detailed rundown on the Worthley Canning Factory operation near the Matawan train station. The newspaper interviewed George G Worthley, who provided business information that would be considered sensitive today, including precise production numbers, income and expense figures, and vendor troubles. He had contracts with local farmers to sell him asparagus, tomatoes, pears, apples and berries. He sought but didn't win a government contract to can potatoes, and he imported pineapples from the Bahamas for canning.

The local farmers went around him to wholesale their crops in New York when the city commission market's prices were higher. The newspaper editorialized on how the cannery was good for the region, hiring about a hundred people from Matawan and Keyport and providing a steady market for local farm goods, so the farmers should abide by their contracts. Worthley died in 1913 and the cannery went out of business.

There are more details about the canning factory in a 27 Jun 2011 article in this blog about a photo collection at the South River Museum.

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