The Hurst family, including Josiah Newell, his wife Anna Belle, and their three children, Allie, Harriet Maude, and Charles Josiah, moved from Dover, Ohio, to Whittier, California, in 1898. In 1906, the family purchased 50 acres at the corner of Orange and Merced in West Covina, where a barn, engine house, pump house, and home were soon built as the headquarters of Hurst Ranch. The children eventually carried on and expanded the operation from the mid 1930s to the late 1950s. Walnuts were the primary crop from 1919 to 1929 for the Blue Diamond label, and from 1930 to 1950 oranges were grown for the Sunkist label. Over the years, truck crops were added, including potatoes, beans, cucumbers, onions, cabbages, cauliflower, and carrots. The ranch grew to about 70 acres planted in oranges and 70 acres planted in seasonally rotated crops. During the 1950s, the family moved the farming operation to the San Joaquin Valley and developed the West Covina property, while the family’s roots in West Covina remained deep.