User:BBrue/StemiltGrowers

Stemilt Growers, Inc. is a family-owned tree fruit growing, packing and shipping company based in Wenatchee, Washington.

Stemilt is the largest fresh market sweet-cherry shipper in the world, and one of the nation's largest grower- packer-shippers of apples, pears, cherries, stone fruit and organics.

History
Stemilt’s company history dates back to 1893, when the Mathison family homesteaded 160 acres on Stemilt Hill near Wenatchee, Washington. The family planted its first 10 acres of apples, pears and cherries in 1914.

By 1947, Tom Mathison, a third generation farmer, took the lead in the family orchard business. He built a fruit packinghouse on Stemilt Hill in 1961. In 1964, Tom Mathison founded Stemilt Growers and began packing fruit for other growers.

In 1975, Mathison built a new packing and storage facility at Olds Station in Wenatchee, which would soon become the new company headquarters. In July 2005, Tom Mathison transferred the company presidency to his grandson, West Mathison.

Name
Stemilt is a Native American word for "foothills". It is also a region of agriculture land located near the Cascade Mountains and city of Wenatchee, Washington.