County of nursery: Pike County
Location of nursery: US 54 & MO NN, Louisiana
Phone: 573.325.4180
Fax: 573.754.3701
Email: info@starkbros.com
Snail Mail (USPS): P.O. Box 1800, Louisiana, MO 63353
"The Pioneer Stark cabin was moved here from the nearby hill, restored and opened as a museum, 1952, to honor Horticulturist James Hart Stark who built the cabin. The orchard he planted, 1816, with grafted scions brought from the family's Kentucky orchard considered the first of grafted apple trees west of the Alleghenies, has become known under his descendants as one of the oldest and largest commercial nurseries in the world. Here are carried on many of Luther Burbank's experiments. The Stark Nursery obtained first patent granted a fruit, 1934."
~ State of Missouri Historical Society, Columbia
The web site of Stark Brothers
"Approximately 60 percent of today's commercially grown apples can trae their origin to Stark Bros. Nurseries and Orchards, the company tht first introduced Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apple varieties to the world. The company celebrated its 175th anniversary in 1991, and will celebrate its 200th in 2016, and continues to be a world leader in the production and sale of quality fruit and fruit trees.
"In 1816, James Hart Stark and his family settled on land that would become part of Louisiana, Missouri, bringing with then a few apple scions from their native Kentucky. Stark grafted the scions onto wild crab apple seedlings. The trees gained a favorable reputation and produced a flourishing local trade. By the mid-1820s, orchardists from across the region purchased Stark trees. Thousands of barrels of apples were shipped annually to the North and East, In 1835, William, the only one of James's seventeen children to join the business, assumed leadership of the company until his death in 1880.
"Prior to 1893, the most common apple variety was the Ben Davis. Although easy to grow, it did not have a pleasing taste. Clarence Stark, a son of William who ran the business from 1880 to 1914, sponsored a contest in 1893 to find better tasting apples. While sampling an array of apple varieties, he deemed a particular one "delicious" and awarded it firs prize. After locating the Iowa farmer who grew the tree, the nursery purchased the rights to the apple and began to market Stark Red Delicious apples. Stark overcame orchardists' initial rejection of the apple by including a free bundle of Red Delicious trees with each order. The 1914 discovery of an apple shaped like the Red Delicious but golden in color proved to be another milestone for the Stark Bro's Nursery, the Red Delicious and the Golden Delicious are the tow most popular apples on the world market.
"By the time the first Stark catalog appeared in 1894, the company sold peach, apricot, plum, pear, and cherry trees, roses, and other ornamental trees and plants. Due to their prolific advertising, colorful catalogs, and the consistent use of the scion/grafting method for tree propagation, the Stark Bro's Nursery had garnered an international reputation and clientele by the turn of the twentieth century. The nursery still thrives under Stark family leadership, making in one of the oldest family-owned and -operated companies in the nation."
~ Ann L. Rogers essay for State of Missouri Historical Society, Columbia