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Historical Context

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The Booth Fisheries Company was incorporated on May 11, 1909 in Delaware as a successor to A. Booth & Company - an Illinois corporation formed in August of 1898, to acquire the business and properties of the A. Booth Packing Company and other concerns.

The company was engaged in buying and selling at wholesale and retail fish, oysters and all sea foods, and had a large fleet of fishing boats on the Great Lakes and Pacific Ocean. It operated in over 70 cities of the United States, including Boston, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Denver and Duluth. The company also had six large public cold storage plants, and had cold storage plants for the freezing and carrying of its own fish at nearly all its branches.

On April 1, 1911, the company purchased the entire capital stock and assets of the Northwestern Fisheries, Company, a Washington corporation, that owned a fleet of boats and 12 fishing plants on the Alaskan Coast.

In 1912, the company acquired all the capital stock of the International Fisheries Company, of Tacoma, Washington, which was engaged in the halibut business, and in June of 1915, acquired cannery properties and operative inventories of Gorman & Company, transferring the latter property to Anacortes Fisheries Company.

The company also owned entire capital stock of the Booth Cold Storage Company and in 1917, purchased the the sardine plants of the Lubec Sardine Company, located at Belfast, Lubec and North Lubec, Maine; and the Grady sardine factory, and the Machiasport Packing Company - which owned and operated two factories, one at Machiasport and one at Bucks' Harbor, Maine.

In 1918, the company purchased sardine plant at Chamcook, New Brunswick, and property at St. John, New Brunswick.

During the 1960s, Sara Lee Corporation acquired Booth Fisheries.

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