You’ll find Popeye statues in Texas and Arkansas

Where is the “Spinach Capital of the World?” Depends on who you ask.

 

It could be Crystal City, Texas (population 5,840). Folks there erected a statue of the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor in 1937 in front of city hall, financed by local spinach growers.

 

Popeye was created by Elzie Crisler (E. C.) Segar for his King Features Syndicate comic strip “Thimble Theatre” in 1929. 

Popeye is usually depicted with a sailor’s cap, corn cob pipe, prominent cleft chin, a squinty eye and bulging forearms bearing anchor tattoos.

He is distinguished by the superhuman strength and combat prowess that he gains from eating spinach. The Popeye comic strip boosted the popularity of spinach and led to increased demand. Hence, Popeye was deemed an ambassador for “all things spinachy.”

As the county seat of Zavala County, Crystal City was a major stop along the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad. The community is located about 120 miles southwest of San Antonio and about 50 miles from the Mexican border.

 

The region is known as the “Winter Garden District,” and spinach is a major agricultural crop.

The California Packing Corporation (later Del Monte) built an expansive spinach cannery near Crystal City in 1945, believed to be one of the world’s largest. Over the years, the processing plant was enlarged several times, and other vegetables were added to the product mix.

The Del Monte cannery became the cornerstone of the local agricultural economy in Crystal City.

Meanwhile, Alma, Ark. (population 6,115), also staked its claim as the “Spinach Capital of the World.” Within the city’s Popeye Park is a bronze statue of Popeye, who is hoisting a can of spinach.

 

(This statue was installed in 2007, replacing a previous fiberglass version that had been created in 1987.)

Alma, in Crawford County, is located within the fertile Arkansas River Valley on the edge of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of a multi-county Northwest Arkansas region that has a rich spinach heritage. 

One hundred years ago, Earl and Shadye Allen formed Allen Canning Company to process tomatoes in 1926 in Siloam Springs in Benton County, Ark. (One of Allen’s largest canning plants was located in Alma.)

By 1976, the family-owned Allen Canning Company was handling more than 100 products and ranked in the top 10 canneries in the world. 

It also claimed the title of world’s largest independent food processor. The company declared: “A field picked in the morning should be canned and shipped that afternoon.”

 

In 1978, Allen Canning Company acquired the Popeye spinach brand from Steele Canning Company, which was founded by Joe M. Steele in Lowell (also in Benton County, Ark.).

In 1966, Steele had licensed the Popeye character for its canned spinach line. The label contained a full-color illustration of a smiling Popeye eating his spinach.

 

“It is our belief that the introduction of the Popeye label will create a larger consumer interest in spinach,” Joe Steele said. “Spinach ranks seventh in annual vegetable sales, and we think it should be higher than this.”

In 1991, Alma city officials authorized a distinctive green paint job for its 1-million-gallon ground level water storage tank to create the “world’s largest can of spinach.” It’s in plain view of motorists traveling east on Interstate 40.

 

Allens’ brands, including Popeye Spinach and Veg-All, have been part of McCall Farms since 2018. Based in Effingham, S.C., McCall Farms specializes in producing “farm-fresh Southern-style” canned vegetables and fruits that are sold nationwide.

 

Other familiar McCall Farms brands include Glory Foods, Margaret Holmes, Peanut Patch Boiled Peanuts and Bruce’s Yams.

Psst. They also grow spinach in Lenexa, Kan.