Cannery Row

1902

A failing cannery bought in 1902 started Monterey on sardines

In 1902 Frank E. Booth bought a failing cannery on Fisherman's Wharf, meaning to can salmon. After seeing the plentiful supply of sardines in Monterey Bay he decided to can sardines instead. In 1905 he hired the Norwegian engineer Knut Hovden to help modernize his business.

The name

Demand in World War I filled the street with canneries and gave it a name

Demand for Monterey sardines rose sharply in 1914 after France suspended sardine exports. New canneries lined Ocean View Avenue, and it was nicknamed Cannery Row as early as 1918. By 1918 the canneries produced 1.4 million sardine cans a year. The street was officially renamed in 1958.

1.4 millionsardine cans a year produced by the canneries in 1918

The workers

At its peak the canneries employed nearly half of Monterey's residents

In the early 1940s the canneries employed 3,000 to 4,000 people in fishing, canning and reduction. Workers were called to the line by a whistle unique to each plant, and 12- to 15-hour shifts were the norm. Sicilian women made up about 30% of the cannery workforce.

The end

The sardine catch collapsed after 1946 and the last cannery closed in 1973

At the height of production in 1946 the sardine catch was 142,282 tons. A year later it had dropped to 26,818 tons. Hovden was the last cannery to close, in 1973, and its site became the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

142,282tons of sardines caught in 1946, the height of production