The Frye Lettuce Farm, now the Fryelands housing development on the west side of Monroe, was the backbone of the local economy during the Great Depression. Roughly 1200 acres, it employed up to 1,000 during peak harvest including a large contingent of Filipinos and many women and high school students from up and down the valley.
Originally the Robinson Lettuce Farm, Charles Frye purchased most of it in a foreclosure sale in 1929, and then lost it less than ten years later to another foreclosure after a bad year for lettuce.
Monroe Historical Society Photo 1323. If you know more about this picture, please contact the Monroe Historical Society at (360) 217-7223.