Origin of Determinates?

[Ruby]

Does anyone happen to know where, when and who grew the first determinate tomato varieties?

I'm vaguely recalling a story about a single determinate plant found growing in a field, but I can't remember where I came across that information or anything more detailed than that!

[nctomatoman]

The first determinate variety, I belive, is Cooper's Special, from the 1910's or 1920's. I will have to look through my Michigan State Bulletin. (After that came Pritchard's Scarlet Topper and others)....Note that Determinate is distinct from Dwarf or Tree tomatoes - those were known in the 1800s (de Laye, from France, with some early US varieties such as Dwarf Champion, etc).

[Ruby]

Thank you, Craig. That gives me a good start on where to dig around.

Just found a few interesting notes for anyone else that is interested:

From Victory Seeds

Pritchard (Scarlet Topper)
90 days, indeterminate — Developed as a cross of 'Cooper Special' with 'Marglobe' and released by the USDA, Tennessee Station in 1932. An "All-American Selection®" winner in 1933.It is reportedly resistant to fusarium wilt, nailhead, and cracking. The fruits are bright red, weigh five to ten ounces, are mild flavored and produce well.
Originally called 'Scarlet Topper', it was renamed 'Prichard' in 1932 after Dr. Pritchard's death in January of 1931.

From ARS

Tomato Program



The USDA tomato program began in 1918. The early history of the program produced notable disease resistant tomato varieties. Marglobe, which was developed by Pritchard and released in 1925, is resistant to a fruit disease called nailhead spot. Pan America, the first variety with resistance to Fusarium wilt was developed by W.S. Porte and S.P. Doolittle and released in 1941. In 1955, this team subsequently released Roma, the first paste-type variety resistant to Fusarium wilt. All processing tomato varieties grown in the U.S. today have one or more of these three varieties in their pedigree. Raymond Webb assumed responsibilities for the tomato program in the 1960’s, followed by T. Barksdale and A. Stoner in the 1970-1980’s. From the mid-1960’s through the 1980’s, germplasm lines were released that had resistance to several insects, early blight, or to anthracnose.

I'm not seeing much about Cooper Special in google searches. I would love to hear more information about this variety and who grew it if anyone knows.