Title supplied by cataloger. Hope Ranch is an unincorporated suburb of Santa Barbara, located in Santa Barbara County. It was so named after Thomas Hope, an Irishman who became one of the most successful ranchers on the South Coast. Hope began to raise sheep in the mid-1800s, and his flocks would eventually number in the thousands. His investment in sheep was an excellent one, as the Civil War greatly drove up the demand for wool cloth. In January 1876, Hope died of stomach cancer; at the time of his death, he was estimated to be worth a half-million dollars. In 1887 his widow sold the ranch for $255,000. Hope Ranch occupies a hilly area immediately adjacent to the coast, and is one of the wealthiest areas in California, with median home prices at $2.61 million dollars (in 2006). As of the 2000 census, the area had an approximate population of 2,200. A large wooden structure with equally large signs reading, "Earl Fruit Company" sits somewhere in the Hope Ranch grounds. The lengthy structure appears to have two side-by-side roofs. It is unclear what type of fruit was processed at this plant.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Fruit processing plants--California--Santa Barbara Building, Wooden--California--Santa Barbara Fruit trade--California--Santa Barbara Ranches--California--Santa Barbara Hope, Thomas Santa Barbara (Calif.) Hope Ranch (Calif.)
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