The Holly Sugar Corporation was an American

beet sugar Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

-producing corporation. Founded in 1905 in

Holly, Colorado Holly is a statutory town in Prowers County in southeastern Colorado, United States. The town is located west of the Kansas border at an elevation of . Despite having the lowest elevation of any Colorado municipality, Holly is higher than th ...

, it expanded during the first half of the 20th century, opening a number of beet sugar refineries in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and becoming the largest independent processor of beet sugar in the United States. As beet sugar production would shrink in the latter part of the 20th century, the size of the company declined somewhat, and it was acquired by Imperial Sugar in 1987. It was later merged into

Spreckels Sugar Company The Spreckels Sugar Company is an American sugar beet refiner that for many years was the largest beet sugar producer in the western United States. The company was incorporated and originally headquartered in San Francisco, with its largest operati ...

, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative (SMBSC). As of 2025, Spreckels operates a single factory in Brawley, California. That same year, SMBSC announced that it would be closing the factory and Spreckels Sugar Company by early 2026. The trademark rights for the Holly Sugar were retained by Imperial Sugar, though as of 2025, Holly Sugar is not sold as a retail or wholesale brand.

History

The Holly Sugar Corporation was founded in 1905 by Kenneth Schley in

, in the

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...

-growing region of the

Eastern Plains The Eastern Plains of Colorado refers to a region of the U.S. state of Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and east of the population centers of the Front Range. Geography The Eastern Plains are part of the High Plains, which are the weste ...

of Colorado. After the growth of sugar production at its Holly plant, the company expanded with a new factory in Swink, Colorado. The original plant at Holly closed in 1915. Initially headquartered in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, the company was purchased in 1916 by A. E. Carlton, who had earlier made his fortune in

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

at Cripple Creek. The company relocated its headquarters to

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

in 1923. In 1967, Holly Sugar moved into the city's first high-rise, the 14-story Holly Sugar Building, which became a downtown landmark. In 1911, Holly Sugar expanded into southern California by acquiring and enlarging a factory in Santa Ana and building another in Huntington Beach. In 1926, the company expanded into northern California through acquisition of the Alameda Sugar Company with factories in Union City and

Tracy, California Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 93,000 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Tracy is located inside a geographic triangle form ...

. By 1931, the company had established or acquired eleven more factories across Wyoming, Texas, and Montana, becoming the largest independent processor of beet sugar in the United States. However, declining sugar beet production led to the closure of its factories in Swink in 1959, in Union City in 1975, and Santa Ana in 1982. In 1987, the corporation was acquired by Imperial Sugar, becoming the Imperial Holly Corporation. The headquarters of the company was moved to Sugar Land, Texas in 1989 and the company's office in Colorado Springs was closed in 1997. Content mirrored at:
Imperial Sugar Company
at

Encyclopedia.com ''Encyclopedia.com'' is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information, images, and videos from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference works. History The website was launched by Infonautics in March 1998. Infonautics w ...

. In 1996, Imperial Holly purchased the

and merged it into its Holly Sugar subsidiary. Imperial Holly rebranded its remaining California plants as Spreckels Sugar Company operations after the merger and over the next several years, sold off its remaining Holly Sugar refineries in the

Mountain states The Mountain states (also known as the Mountain West or the Interior West) form one of the nine geographic divisions of the United States that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. It is a subregion of the Western Un ...

. The parent company returned to the name Imperial Sugar in 1999. However, the Holly Seed division in

Sheridan, Wyoming Sheridan is a city in the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Sheridan County, Wyoming, Sheridan County. The city is located halfway between Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone Park and Mount Rushmore by U.S. Route 14 in Wyoming, U.S. ...

would continue as a division of the company. In 2005, Imperial sold the Holly Sugar Corporation (including Holly Seed) to the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative (SMBSC), but retained the

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

to the Holly Sugar brand. SMBSC then rebranded the Holly Sugar Corporation as Spreckels Sugar Company. Holly Seed closed down in 2021. As of 2025, a former Holly Sugar plant in Brawley, California is still operated by the Spreckels Sugar Company, its sole remaining operation. In April 2025, SMBSC announced the decommissioning and closure of the Brawley factory by early 2026. The original Holly Sugar Building in Colorado Springs, briefly renamed for the Vanion Corporation in 2001, is now known as the FirstBank Building and remains a landmark in Colorado Springs.

References

{{Reflist

External links

* Holly Sugar - website (archived at Archive.org)
Hollysugar.com
- version as of 2023-12-22
Hollysugar.com
- version as of 2004-02-07
Holly Seed
- website (archived at Archive.org)
Spreckels Sugar Company
- website of successor company Sugar companies of the United States Food and drink companies established in 1905 Companies based in Colorado Springs, Colorado 1905 establishments in Colorado Food and drink companies disestablished in 2005 Defunct food and drink companies of the United States