A landmark fell under the wrecker’s bars in 1965 when the Sunkist Orchard house on Route 113 east of Birmingham was demolished. It was a fine large residence that had outlived its usefulness. To older residents of Birmingham and Henrietta, it was known as the home of the Leonard family whose orchard was reknown for its apples and was one of the several large orchards of the area. Before the turn of the century, apples from Birmingham and Henrietta were shipped to foreign ports in barrels manufactured in Birmingham’s cooper shop. The Leonard family was musical and David C. Leonard entertained young people by singing popular songs and ballads of his day. One of the family played a violin from the cupola of the house and the music would drift across the countryside.

The reputation of the Leonard place went beyond apples and music. One of the sons became a big-league baseball player. Herbert Benjamin Leonard, better known as Dutch Leonard, played in the American League from 1913 to 1925. He was a pitcher for Boston and Detroit.

In 1898 David C. Leonard sold the orchard and moved to Fresno, California to grow grapes. In 1930 the Leonard grape crop amounted to 328,000 tons. After the Leonards left, the place passed through several hands including Hales, who also migrated to California, Pelham Hooker Blossom, a Cleveland industrialist, E. J. Darby, the self styled apple king, the Rini commission merchants to Cleveland, Clarence E. Opperman of Birmingham and to Mr. and Mrs. Carol E. Rogers, the present owners.

Evelyn and Ernest Lamvermeyer managed the orchard for the Rinis from 1937 to 1944 before they acquired their own orchard on Vermilion Road in Henrietta township. During their tenure, a son of David Leonard visited them and requested to go through the house. He told how his father had planned the home and used lumber from the woods on the place. The office floor had alternate boards of black walnut and oak. A porch which encircled the house was used by the Leonard children for a bicycle track. While the Lamvermeyer family lived in the house, its once social reputation was restored, according to Evelyn Lamvermeyer, when they hosted a large Halloween party shortly after they moved into the interesting house.

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Transcribed by Lowell Dunlap