Stringfellow Orchards
historic place
Stringfellow Orchards, in Hitchcock, Galveston County, is a significant historic place. Pioneer horticulturalist Henry Martyn Stringfellow established an experimental garden and orchard here in 1883. His home was completed in 1884. Stringfellow gained national and international recognition for his innovative organic gardening methods. In 1890, he published a treatise on these methods, adopted by growers globally. He introduced Satsuma oranges from Japan to the Gulf Coast, starting the region's citrus industry. Stringfellow also paid his African American workers one dollar a day, double the prevailing wage of the 1880s and 1890s. The Texas Historical Commission erected a marker for Stringfellow Orchards in 1992. This site remains important for its horticultural innovations and its historical context in Texas agriculture.