The Koonce Pear

I have written this page to share the story of the Koonce Pear, a once prolific heirloom fruit that quite nearly became extinct.

Picture of Nicholas and Margaret Koonce, under a pear tree, circa 1890
Nicholas & Margaret Koonce under pear tree circa 1890

It would appear that sometime in the late 1800's, my great grandfather and name sake, Nicholas Koonce cultivated a pear in the town of Villa Ridge, in Pulaski county Illinois. According to a report I found on the University of Illinois website, the pear was taken in 1893 by neighbors George Gould and sons to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. There it was exhibited as a new fruit and "was pronounced by competent judges to be of good quality, and can surely be recommended for trial."

The American Pomological Society added Koonce to its list of fruits in 1909.

By 1921, when U. P. Hendrick published The Pears of New York, this variety appears to have grown to considerable acclaim. The full text of this book can be seen on the Cornell University website. The description of the Koonce pear is on page 183. The book states that "Koonce is a popular early variety grown rather commonly in nearly every pear region in the United States. It is listed by nearly all nurserymen".

The USDA Agricultural Research Service website also states that most of the cultivars listed in the book are growing in the gerplasm collection at the National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) in Corvallis, OR. However, through correspondence with NCGR in early 2007, I learned that of roughly 80 or so important pears listed in The Pears of New York, the Koonce was among 16 cultivars not in their collection at that time. Furthermore, their search had lead them to a specimen at the National Fruit Collection, in England. The NCGR purchased some scionwood in the winter of 2007. In February of 2008 the specimen arrived at the U.S.D.A. quarantine station in Beltsville, Maryland where it has undergone extensive testing.

It was provisionally released in the Spring of 2022 and on Tuesday, July 26th, 2022 I received 5 bare root trees from the NCGR. It is my intent to propagate an orchard and share scion wood with anyone interested.

The Heir Apparent,
Nicholas Koonce