Tulare County
Biographies
JOSEPH ACURSO, JR.
On July 24, 1882, Joseph Acurso, Jr., who is now the proprietor of the Pacific Coast Grocery at No. 400 East Tulare avenue, Visalia, California, was born in Italy. While he was still a small boy his parents, Joseph and Frances A. Acurso, came to the United Stated and settled in Louisiana. There the father was engaged in the grocery business for a time, when they removed to Chicago and lived there for four years. They then came to California and located in San Jose, where they lived for one year, when they removed to San Francisco.
Joseph Acurso, Jr., was educated in the public schools in the various cities where his parents lived. In 1906 he left San Francisco and returned to San Jose, remaining there until 1911, when he became a resident of Visalia. On the last day of April, 1914, he opened his present grocery. At that time there were but few families living in the vicinity. But he had faith in the future of Tulare avenue and the adjoining streets and that faith has been fully justified. With the building up of this section of Visalia his trade has grown and he has added a stock of general merchandise. He built and owns the two-story structure in which he conducts his business, and he is also the owner of other valuable property, all acquired by his industry and strict attention to business.
Mr. Acurso was married to Miss Lucy Albanese and they have two children- Frances and Louis. Mr. Acurso is a naturalized American citizen and claims allegiance to the republican party. In local affairs, however, he frequently “scratches the ticket” to vote for the man rather than the party. He is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose, which is the only fraternal society to claim him as a brother.
From: History of Tulare County and Kings County, California – Kathleen Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. I, Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926, Page 301
Transcribed by Jeannie Miyama
ALFRED’S PURE ICE CREAM COMPANY
One of the largest and most popular products in the line of food and refreshments today is that of ice cream, which in the last fifteen years has so grown in popular favor that the amount manufactured has jumped from twenty million gallons to two hundred and three million gallons. One of the pioneers in the improved methods of manufacture of this delicious product in the United States is C. J. Alfred, president of Alfred’s Pure Ice Cream Company, of Los Angeles, which has a large and well equipped branch plant at Tipton, Tulare county. The business had formerly been conducted by Mr. Alfred in northwestern Pennsylvania, and it is a noteworthy fact that he was the first manufacturer to dry harden ice cream by the cold air blast system, now used all over the country.
In 1913 Mr. Alfred came to California and established a plant in Los Angeles, which has enjoyed a steady and continuous growth until now it is one of the largest plants of its kind in the west. To the end that ultimate perfection in the manufacture of its ice cream might be attained, the company established its own creamery at Tipton, where twice daily the milk and cream is bought in from farmers, pre-cooked and shipped in iced cars to the main plant, where, by the most improved methods of handling a product which is so susceptible to contamination, it is mixed and frozen ready for shipment to dealers. It is very seldom that the milk and cream ever reach the ice cream plant in anything but first class condition. Milk from four thousand cows is used, the payroll to local dairymen amounting to an average of forth thousand dollars monthly. Express charges alone on condensed milk, cream, etc., sent to the Los Angeles plant, amount to forty thousand dollars a year. The company employs one hundred men in all its plants, including also the branch plant at San Bernardino, California.
The Alfred’s Pure Ice Cream Company has been a pioneer ice cream manufacturer in the entire citrus belt, first instituting cabinet service to the dealers, which enables them to carry a convenient assortment of flavors at all times. The president of the company, C. J. Alfred, who has been in the ice cream industry for thirty years, is a prominent member of the Jonathan and Uplifters Clubs. He is an active member of the Masonic order, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. M. I. Alfred, who is in active charge of the production end of the business, is a graduate of one of the largest dairy colleges in the state and is thoroughly qualified in every way to insure nothing but the highest grade product, bacteria tests and testing the butter fat contents, milk solids and serum solids, being part of his everyday work. He is constantly and vigilantly watching that each and every batch of ice cream shall be up to standard, uniform in quality and wholesomeness.
History of Tulare County and Kings County, California – Kathleen Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. I, Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926, Page 479
Transcribed by Jeannie Miyama