This was the hub of Whittier's once prosperous citrus industry, where laborers, often immigrants, brought picked fruit to be washed, sorted, and packed by other workers before thousands of railcars carried Whittier oranges, lemons, and grapefruit to markets across the nation. Because success depended on moving perishable citrus quickly, local growers formed the Whittier Citrus Association in 1901 to entice railroads to ship their fruit. Two years later, the association built several of these buildings as its packinghouse. The Union Pacific Railroad laid tracks to the loading docks on one side of the plant, while the Southern Pacific ran tracks to the other side. By the 1930s, the packinghouse had expanded into one of the largest and best equipped in the West.