From the Living Museum
York Imperial
- Origin
- York County, Pennsylvania, early 19th century (c. 1820–1830s)
- Era
- c. 1820–1830s
- Type / use
- Dual-purpose · Processing · Cider · Fresh eating
From the ArchiveFilm
Watch its story
The Schoolboys' Apple
A short narrated history of York Imperial, told through the archive illustrations of our apple collection.
Illustrations: Royal Charles Steadman (1921) and Deborah Griscom Passmore (1904), USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, National Agricultural Library (public domain). Narrated with a synthetic voice.
Watch on YouTubeHistory & Stories
Medium-to-large red fruit, often with a characteristic russet ‘skirt’ around the stem. Firm, crisp, aromatic flesh, outstanding storage and shipping quality. Unique as one of the most important commercial and processing apples of the Eastern United States for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries; still valued for cider, processing, and fresh use. A true workhorse American heirloom with refined flavor.
Folklore & Name
Named for York County, Pennsylvania, early 19th century. Became one of the most important commercial and processing apples of the Eastern United States. Classic tough American workhorse with refined flavor and outstanding storage/shipping quality.
Digging into the History
Below my own notes, here is what the old fruit books and today’s collections record about this apple, kept apart from the stories people tell.
What we know
York Imperial began on a farm next to the borough of York, Pennsylvania. S.A. Beach's The Apples of New York (1905) reprints a history by the USDA pomologist Taylor: the owner, a Mr. Johnson, noticed schoolboys visiting the tree "in early spring to get the apples that had passed the winter on the ground, covered by leaves." He found the fruit in fine condition and took specimens to Jonathan Jessop, a local nurseryman, who "began the propagation of the variety before 1830, under the name 'Johnson's Fine Winter'" 1. The UK National Fruit Collection also records it as first propagated in 1830 on Mr. Johnson's farm 2.
According to the same account, after the middle of the century the pomologist Charles Downing pronounced it the "imperial of keepers" and suggested the name York Imperial. It was first described in print in 1853, and it went on to become "a leading market variety" in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia 1.
What we think: stories & traditions
The schoolboys' apple. In the story Taylor tells, local children found it first: after a winter under the leaves the apples were still good to eat 1. It is the kind of detail that rings true, and it is a fine advertisement for a keeping apple.
Trees in the ditch. Taylor also says Jessop couldn't sell the trees at first and "dumped the surplus trees from his nursery into a hollow beside the turnpike," where farmers coming home from market picked them up and planted them in lower York County 1. Whether every detail is exact we can't say, but it is a wonderful start for an apple that went on to fill orchards across three states.
Sources
- S.A. Beach, The Apples of New York, Vol. 1 (Albany: J.B. Lyon, 1905), "York Imperial," pp. 385–386 (quoting Taylor). archive.org/details/applesofnewyork01beaciala/page/385
- UK National Fruit Collection, "York Imperial." www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/full2.php?id=6988&fruit=apple
Curious about York Imperial?
Email us at drgoss@honeytreeorchard.com.