Texas Basket Company’s earliest baskets were made for harvesting, transporting & storing fruits and vegetables – mainly tomatoes. Prior to World War II, Jacksonville, Texas was known as “The Tomato Capital of the World”. Jacksonville’s rich red soil produces flavorful tomatoes that are hauled by wagons or automobiles to a downtown area called the “Tomato Sheds”.
This area consisted of many open-air sheds alongside the Missouri Pacific railroads. Baskets full of tomatoes were loaded on the train cars and shipped by rail across the United States.
Texas Basket Company’s manufacturing plant has been locally owned and operated since 1919. TBC was purchased by J.C. Swanson and his son Martin in 1977. Martin Swanson and his wife Jackie still own and operate Texas Basket Company today. There are only a handful of commercial basket manufacturers in the nation and Texas Basket Company is the largest and most well-known.
TBC produces several hundred different sizes, types and colors of products, more than any other manufacturer. Texas Basket Company produces approximately 15,000 items per day! The products are shipped to all 50 states, as well as Mexico, Australia, Canada, Japan, Germany, and other countries.
According to en.wikipedia.org. Source of photo: internet
