Sturges Farms Collection

TITLE: Sturges Farms Collection

DATE RANGE:  1892-1956

CALL NUMBER:   Y-MS 58

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:   12 linear feet

PROVENANCE:  Donated by the Sturges Trust, 1992  

COPYRIGHT:   The Yuma County Library District owns this copyright. 

RESTRICTIONS: This collection is unrestricted.   

CREDIT LINE: Stephen Sturges Collection Y-MS 58, Yuma County Library District

PROCESSED BY: Linda Whitaker, September 2015

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:   Stephen H. Sturges was one of ten children born to William W. and Hattie (Black) Sturges on August 9, 1896. In 1907 the family moved from Meadville, Missouri to Yuma where his brother Charlie bought a 40-acre farm. The Sturges boys went to work early. Stephen said, “I could go to school only every other year. Farm work came first, school second.” He finished high school at age 22. He went on to become President of Sturges Farms which cultivated 2,500 acres, rented 2,000 additional acres, and also held state leases on 2,000 acres. He experimented with almost every crop and agricultural process known to the Yuma area. 

After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War I, Stephen returned to Yuma where he expanded the family farming business to include alfalfa, cattle, lettuce, cantaloupe production and shipping, cotton production and ginning, real estate, land excavation, and other ventures such as copper mining in California and oil in Ohio.   He became active in irrigation politics and was known as a tireless fighter for irrigation development. He served many years on the Board of Governors of the Yuma County Water Users Association. He is remembered for his successful efforts in freeing control of the project from the Bureau of Reclamation.  In his later years, he became interested in buying and selling art.  

During his first marriage, Stephen Sturges adopted his niece Jane Sturges Schoenherr.  In 1943, he married Rose Poos, a school teacher at Fourth Avenue Grammar. She was wellliked by her students, many of whom became lifelong friends. Like her husband, she was active in the community throughout her life.  She was known for her flower gardens and received many awards for her flowers and arrangements. In 1991, she was inducted into the Yuma County Educational Hall of Fame.  She died in 1995, at the age of 96.

Stephen Sturges, enjoyed hunting and fishing along the Colorado River with his brothers and was one of Yuma’s best known and best liked citizens.  By all reports, he was a friendly, informal and generous man who preferred the outdoors walking the fields and checking his crops. He ran “a happy office “without status symbols and where working people were always welcomed.  Stephen Sturges died in 1982 at the age of 85.

(Sources: Arizona Edition, American Biographical Encyclopedia, Profiles of Prominent Personalities by Paul W. Pollock, 1967 p. 58.  

Sturges Charitable Trust   https://sites.google.com/site/sturgescharitabletrust/home/about accessed 9-1-15)

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: As of this date, very little remains of Stephen

Sturges’ personal and business papers. The bulk of this collection consists of checks and invoices in a narrow date range from 1954-1956. Given his contributions to Yuma agribusiness and his reputation as a generous, civic-minded man, this is a real loss to the historical record.  However, he and his wife live on through the Stephen H. Sturges and Rose P. Sturges Charitable Trust. 

This trust provides funding for scholarships through the Yuma Community Foundation to qualified Yuma high school students planning to attend college.  Since 1985, over 340 students have received scholarships from the Stephen H. and Rose P. Sturges Trusts. Each year, twelve to fifteen Higher Education Scholarships are awarded to Yuma area high school seniors.  With satisfactory grades and proper enrollment, each scholarship is renewable for three years for a total scholarship of $10,000.  (Source: https://sites.google.com/site/sturgescharitabletrust/home/about accessed 9-1-15)

Arranged in four series and chronological or alphabetical within.  Series I: General Correspondence – folders reflect original titles and the only extant correspondence to and from Stephen Sturges. Of interest is the Yuma Producers Association’s Prisoner of War Committee. Series II: Investments – real estate titles and abstracts.   Series III: Cancelled Checks – documents the principle business accounts for Sturges Farms; includes paychecks that show the scope of the Sturges Farms payroll. Series IV: Invoices – document a wide range of farming expenses and his support of Yuma businesses.  

CONTAINER LIST: