.jpg)
Recent from talks
Walter Knott
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Walter Knott
Walter Marvin Knott (December 11, 1889 – December 3, 1981) was an American farmer and businessman who founded the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Buena Park, California, introduced and mass-marketed the boysenberry, and founded the Knott's Berry Farm food brand.
Knott was born on December 11, 1889, in San Bernardino, California. His parents were Rev. Elgin Charles Knott, a Southern Methodist minister originally from Tennessee, and Margaret Virginia Daugherty Knott. Knott's father was a preacher at a church in Santa Ana, California when he was born.
When Elgin died of tuberculosis in 1896, Margaret moved Walter and his brother to Pomona, California. Walter Knott had aspirations of being a farmer from a very young age, and ended his formal schooling at age 16 (which was legal in California at the time) in order to start working.
Knott was adept at growing produce, and would rent vacant lots around Pomona to grow produce to contribute to his family's income. At the time he married Cordelia Hornaday in 1911, Knott was working for a cement contractor.
In 1913, Knott homesteaded on 160 acres in the Mojave Desert near Newberry Springs and made his first effort at farming, which was unsuccessful. Knott tried farming again in 1917 near Shandon, California—growing produce to feed the employees of a cattle ranch and selling the excess supply for his own profit. This enterprise proved to be more successful, as Knott and Cordelia made enough money to pay off all his debts and had become a major supplier of produce for the area.
In 1920, Knott went into a partnership with one of his cousins, berry grower Jim Preston, to farm 20 acres of land in Buena Park, California. In 1923, Knott set up a small berry stand on the property, facing Grand Avenue (now Beach Boulevard) to sell their produce to locals and tourists on their way to the beach. At the end of their original lease in 1927, Parsons decided to go off on his own and Knott purchased the Buena Park farm from his landlord, William H. Coughran.
The next year, in addition to a new house for his family, Knott built an 80-foot-long stucco building on the farm to house a new berry market, a nursery, and a tea room for Cordelia to sell hamburgers, sandwiches, and pies (Cordelia cooked the food in the Knott family kitchen). When the Great Depression began in 1929, Knott started buying parcels around the farm as the price of land dropped.
In 1934, Knott introduced the hybrid boysenberry, named after its creator, Rudolph Boysen. The previous year, Knott had secured cuttings from Boysen's dilapidated berry plant—which was a cross between a blackberry, red raspberry and loganberry—and planted and cultivated it at his own farm. The plant produced huge berries, and Knott integrated the boysenberry into all of his products as well as Cordelia's tea room menu.
Hub AI
Walter Knott AI simulator
(@Walter Knott_simulator)
Walter Knott
Walter Marvin Knott (December 11, 1889 – December 3, 1981) was an American farmer and businessman who founded the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Buena Park, California, introduced and mass-marketed the boysenberry, and founded the Knott's Berry Farm food brand.
Knott was born on December 11, 1889, in San Bernardino, California. His parents were Rev. Elgin Charles Knott, a Southern Methodist minister originally from Tennessee, and Margaret Virginia Daugherty Knott. Knott's father was a preacher at a church in Santa Ana, California when he was born.
When Elgin died of tuberculosis in 1896, Margaret moved Walter and his brother to Pomona, California. Walter Knott had aspirations of being a farmer from a very young age, and ended his formal schooling at age 16 (which was legal in California at the time) in order to start working.
Knott was adept at growing produce, and would rent vacant lots around Pomona to grow produce to contribute to his family's income. At the time he married Cordelia Hornaday in 1911, Knott was working for a cement contractor.
In 1913, Knott homesteaded on 160 acres in the Mojave Desert near Newberry Springs and made his first effort at farming, which was unsuccessful. Knott tried farming again in 1917 near Shandon, California—growing produce to feed the employees of a cattle ranch and selling the excess supply for his own profit. This enterprise proved to be more successful, as Knott and Cordelia made enough money to pay off all his debts and had become a major supplier of produce for the area.
In 1920, Knott went into a partnership with one of his cousins, berry grower Jim Preston, to farm 20 acres of land in Buena Park, California. In 1923, Knott set up a small berry stand on the property, facing Grand Avenue (now Beach Boulevard) to sell their produce to locals and tourists on their way to the beach. At the end of their original lease in 1927, Parsons decided to go off on his own and Knott purchased the Buena Park farm from his landlord, William H. Coughran.
The next year, in addition to a new house for his family, Knott built an 80-foot-long stucco building on the farm to house a new berry market, a nursery, and a tea room for Cordelia to sell hamburgers, sandwiches, and pies (Cordelia cooked the food in the Knott family kitchen). When the Great Depression began in 1929, Knott started buying parcels around the farm as the price of land dropped.
In 1934, Knott introduced the hybrid boysenberry, named after its creator, Rudolph Boysen. The previous year, Knott had secured cuttings from Boysen's dilapidated berry plant—which was a cross between a blackberry, red raspberry and loganberry—and planted and cultivated it at his own farm. The plant produced huge berries, and Knott integrated the boysenberry into all of his products as well as Cordelia's tea room menu.
Recent media