R Cali & Bro
Rosario Cali was born on the Italian Island of Sicily in 1885 and was helping his father in the family vineyards by the time he was six years old.
At age 12, he became a "fruit merchant", contracting with local growers to buy fruit with a very small deposit and then selling the fruit in town.
When he was 18, he and his older brother Salvatore “Sam” Cali came to America.
For several years, Rosario lived on the east coast and held a variety of jobs such as shoveling snow and coal, and driving a team of horses to haul construction materials.
In 1907, he came to California and before long he and his brother, Sam, started a grocery and fruit business in Daly City.
Although this business prospered, the brothers decided to sell it and move their families to a less-congested area.
They first moved to Willits in Marin County, but a business trip to Campbell took Rosario through Cupertino where he decided to settle and take up farming, assisted by his brother Joseph.
But Rosario soon realized that farming alone was not a profitable venture, mainly because fruit prices were too low.
Rosario took a job as the first fruit buyer for the new Schuckl Canning Co.,
and Joseph started hauling fruit both from their own orchard and also the fruit that Rosario bought for the cannery.
In 1923, Rosario and Joseph started the “R Cali and Bro” trucking company so their own trucks could be used.
In 1928, the brothers purchased nine acres on the “Crossroads” - now De Anza and Stevens Creek Boulevard - and built a warehouse selling hay, grain, and farm supplies.
The warehouse operations expanded and fulfilled the great need of dairies and poultry farms throughout the state.
In 1936, construction on Cali Mills began.
It was Cupertino’s first million dollar business.
Because Cupertino was not a livestock rich area, the trucks delivered their various types of feed all over Northern and Central California.
In 1944, the largest fire in Cupertino history damaged the mill enough it had to be closed until 1946 for repairs.
In 1949, the feed industry moved from sack packaging to larger bulk sales.
This made it necessary for remodeling and updating some equipment.
By the late 1970s, the mill was a hodge podge of manufacturing styles but it all seemed to work together.
The mill played a vital role in California's farming industry,
especially the golden age of “The Valley of Hearts Delight” fruit production in which California was the leading supplier of fruit to the world.
Joseph and Rosario passed away in 1959 and 1961 respectively,
but under the guidance of their sons, Alfred and Ed, the business continued to expand and prosper throughout the 1960's and 1970's.
However, as agriculture gave way to industry, the continued operation of a feed mill in downtown Cupertino was not practical,
so the property at De Anza and Stevens Creek Boulevard was sold to developers in 1984 and torn down in January 1988.
Researched and written by Alecia Thomas, CHSM Collection Manager, December 2024
Source of information: Tony Lillo, article in Cupertino Courier, January 19, 1956 and Ron Cali oral history (1996). Cupertino Historical Society