From the Beginning to Present Day
Knott’s Berry Farm was the first theme park in America, and is now one of the world’s largest theme parks. The park is visited by millions of people each year to experience thrilling roller coasters, but this all started by a farming couple from Pomona, California who sold berries from a roadside stand in Buena Park, California. In the 1920’s Walter Knott was an unsuccessful farmer from Pomona, California who came across some hybrid plants that were a cross between blackberries, red raspberries, and loganberries. Walter Knott nursed the plants and decided to name them Boysenberries after the person who claimed to have created the hybrid plants, Rudolph Boysen. The boysenberry was the official trademark of the Knott Family.
Walter and Cordelia Knott bought 10 acres of land in Buena Park, California in Orange County. They began to sell the boysenberries from a roadside stand on their land. The boysenberries were a huge hit and the Knott’s began selling the berries a long with preserves and pies, and Cordelia also began selling chicken dinners. Her chicken dinners also became a huge hit, and in 1934 the berry stand evolved into a restaurant. The Knott’s charged $0.65 for each chicken dinner. In 1939 The Knott’s expanded their kitchen and added seating to the restaurant to six hundred seats. The restaurant has three different rooms with two-hundred seats each to choose from. By this time the Knott’s commanded nearly twice the price of berries. Also, they were getting a return of $1,760 per acre on their land that originally cost $1,500 per acre.
In the 1940’s Walter Knott made small ponds, along with other ideas, around his land to entertain guests as they waited to be called in to eat dinner, as people were stuck waiting in long lines for hours to get a delicious chicken dinner. The Knott’s began a gift catalog service for