These days, “satsuma” usually refers to a variety of mandarin, often mistaken for a tangerine. But this street was named (in 1916) for the satsuma plum. Said plum was grown at the southernmost tip of Satsuma Avenue by Carl Alfred Frieburg (1866-1936), a Swedish immigrant who came to Toluca around 1891 to manage General Charles Forman‘s fruit orchards. Frieburg later became a successful grower himself, owning some 65 acres here. According to his daughter Elna, when local leaders offered to name the street around the corner from Satsuma in his honor, the humble Swede suggested it be called Valley Spring Lane instead. And so it was.
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