Kitchitaro Kawano came to the United States from Japan in the late 1800s. He eventually found his way to Loomis, where he worked on various farms. In 1911, he and his wife, Momi, purchased 20 acres of land in the Rosedale Col-ony Tract of Loomis and named it Rosedale Farm. This land later became Roseville and is now part of Granite Bay. Most of Kawano's orchard was planted in grapes and persimmons, along with some pears and a few peaches. When grape prices plummeted in the 1920s, the grapes were replaced with plums.

After Kawano's death in 1939, his widow and youngest daughter, Helen, ran the farm. During World War II, Helen and her new husband, Seiichi Otow, were interned at Tule Lake Relocation Center and later worked in Chicago. After the war, they returned to the farm to find that it was not in condition to provide them an income. Seiichi opened a radio repair shop in Sacramento while reviving the orchard. Eventually. Seiichi and Helen returned to farming fulltime.

Rosedale Farm shipped plums to eastern markets through the fruit sheds in Loomis. Fresh persimmons were sold to Oakland, Los Angeles, Seattle and via the Loomis fruit shed. Dried persimmons were sold locally as well as in Los Angeles, the Bay Area and eventually Hawaii.