{"product_id":"vintage-oregon-loganberries-crate-label-salem-1950s-treasures-gifts","title":"Vintage 1950s Oregon Loganberries Crate Label 🍓 Oregon Fruit Products Co. Salem","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Packed Oregon Loganberries? 🍓 The Berry Salem Bet On\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9\" x 6\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ayxyovdvx4s\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn loganberry country the boast went like this: \"Eighty percent of the world's loganberries grow within thirty miles of Salem, Oregon.\" For a few heady years the loganberry was Salem's fruit, pressed into juice, put up in cans and jars, and advertised from coast to coast. Today most Americans have never tasted one. This label, with LOGANBERRIES set in the middle of a painted harvest and OREGON arched across the top, is a small piece of that Salem story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a \u003cstrong\u003e1950s Oregon Loganberries crate label\u003c\/strong\u003e for berries \u003cstrong\u003epacked by the Oregon Fruit Products Co. of Salem, Oregon\u003c\/strong\u003e, and it measures \u003cstrong\u003e9 x 6 inches\u003c\/strong\u003e. The sheet is unused, its back clean and blank.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat the Label Says and Shows\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEvery word on the sheet, top to bottom:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOREGON\u003c\/strong\u003e, arched across the top in big yellow letters, each with a white stripe inside and a dark outline\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLOGANBERRIES\u003c\/strong\u003e in dark serif capitals on a pale yellow panel, and under it \u003cstrong\u003eWATER PACK - 6 LBS. 7 OZ. NET\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePACKED BY OREGON FRUIT PRODUCTS CO. SALEM - OREGON\u003c\/strong\u003e at lower center, in yellow and white outlined letters\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNATURE'S TWO FRUIT FAMILIES - CITRUS - NON CITRUS - EAT BOTH FOR HEALTH\u003c\/strong\u003e in pale blue capitals along the maroon border\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBehind the lettering, a painted harvest fills every inch of the sheet: an apple and cherries at the upper left, striped gooseberries below them, blackberries and bramble berries throughout, a plum at the upper right with blushed cherries below it, two strawberries at the center, a pear, and a peach glowing at the lower right, with leaves tucked in behind all of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRead the slogan twice and there is a small irony in it. The label tells you to eat from both of nature's fruit families, citrus and non-citrus, and then pictures only one of them: there is not an orange or a lemon anywhere on the sheet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI read that slogan as a little shot back at the orange growers. California's citrus growers had been selling oranges on health since 1907, when they ran a campaign in Iowa under the line \"Oranges for Health - California for Wealth,\" and their magazine copy went on to call citrus a good source of the newly discovered vitamin C. The non-citrus side played the same card: in November 1932 Hawaii's pineapple canners launched a $1 million campaign built on health, with ads telling readers that canned pineapple was a source of vitamins. So when an Oregon berry packer tells you there are two fruit families and to eat both, it is making sure nobody forgets the second one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWater pack\u003c\/strong\u003e means the fruit was packed in water rather than sugar syrup, and the net weight printed under the name promises more than six pounds of berries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🫐 Judge Logan's Accident\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe loganberry began as an accident in a California garden. In 1881 Judge James Harvey Logan (1841-1928) of Santa Cruz, a judge and amateur plant breeder, was growing blackberries of the Aughinbaugh variety and happened to plant them beside an old red raspberry, the Red Antwerp. The plants bloomed and ripened their fruit together, crossed on their own, and the seedlings gave him a new berry, half blackberry and half raspberry by parentage, that took his name. Plants descended from Logan's original were introduced to Europe in 1897.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌆 Salem, Loganberry Town\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to the berry's own publicity, farmer Gus Freniard brought the first loganberry plants to Salem in 1899, and his stock went to seed sellers who promoted it as \"the largest and most beautiful\" berry. The Willamette Valley suited it, and Salem took to it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThen came prohibition. Local prohibition laws took hold in Salem in 1913, and the Salem Brewery Association was left with a plant and nothing to make in it. In 1915 two Salem companies incorporated, within days and a few blocks of each other, to press loganberry juice on an industrial scale. The brewery reorganized as the Northwest Fruit Products Company and sold a loganberry drink called Loju. The other company's juice was Phez, marketed as a substitute for alcohol. The Willamette Heritage Center records that this second firm started out under the name Oregon Fruit Products before rechristening itself the Pheasant Company. The Salem Fruit Union had already pressed 2,500 gallons of loganberry juice in 1914, and by the end of 1915, once an enameled can was developed, loganberry jams and jellies had caught on as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSalem went all in. In July 1915 Oregon's commissioners to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco announced they would celebrate a \"Loganberry Day\" at the fair. Juice makers spent as much as $700,000 on advertising aimed at hotels, clubs and railway lines across the country. In 1918 the Pheasant Fruit Company merged with the Northwest Fruit Growers Association.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe boom did not last. By the 1920s the market was showing strain and shrinking, and in the late 1930s the boysenberry cut further into the loganberry's trade. By 2002 Oregon's loganberry crop had fallen to about 45 tonnes, grown on 28 hectares.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese days, say \"Willamette Valley\" and most folks think Pinot Noir before they think berries. The Pinot is the newcomer. David Lett moved to Oregon in 1965 to plant Pinot Noir in the valley, against the advice of his professors at UC Davis, and he and his wife Diana made the valley's first Pinot Noir at their Eyrie Vineyards. Now the Willamette is known the world over for it. The berries never left, though: about 90 percent of the frozen blackberries grown in the United States come from Oregon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 Oregon Fruit Products Co.\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMax Gehlar founded Oregon Fruit Products in Salem in 1935 to can the Willamette Valley's cane berries and cherries, and the first cans of Oregon Fruit were packed that year. Three generations of Gehlars ran the company from its original West Salem location before Ed and Cyndy Maletis bought it in 2011. In 2018, after 83 years in West Salem, it moved into a former NORPAC cannery, and it still sells Oregon fruit today as Oregon Fruit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🍹 Where the Loganberry Lives On\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOregon's juice boom faded, but the loganberry found a second life far to the east. It became a popular drink flavor in Western New York and parts of Southern Ontario, a tradition that began at Crystal Beach Park in Ontario, and companies there still bottle loganberry drinks. The berry itself remains a hard sell to commercial growers: the canes are thorny, the fruit hides under the leaves, and berries on the same plant ripen at different times, which makes picking slow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖼️ Display Ideas\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🖼️ Frame it on its own; the sheet suits a small kitchen or dining room frame\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🍒 Hang it with other Pacific Northwest fruit labels for a regional wall\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🧺 Pair it with canning jars or berry baskets on an open shelf\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🎁 Give it to someone from Salem, the Willamette Valley, or Western New York loganberry-drink country\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e📚 Keep it in an archival sleeve with other food and grocery advertising\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e❓ Questions People Ask\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWho packed the loganberries this label was made for?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts printed packer line names Oregon Fruit Products Co., in Salem, Oregon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eHow old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a 1950s label. No year is printed on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat is a loganberry?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA hybrid berry, the offspring of an Aughinbaugh blackberry and a Red Antwerp raspberry, that appeared in Judge Logan's Santa Cruz garden in 1881.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat does \"water pack\" mean?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe berries were packed in water, not sugar syrup.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat does the slogan mean?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt divides fruit into citrus and non-citrus kinds and tells the reader to eat both for good health. Every fruit pictured on this label comes from the non-citrus side.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIs the label unused?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYes. It is a loose sheet that was never applied, with a clean, blank back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat size is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e9 inches by 6 inches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy was Salem called loganberry country?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSalem was the heart of the loganberry trade in the 1910s: its juice companies, the Salem Fruit Union and Oregon's \"Loganberry Day\" at the 1915 exposition all grew out of it, and the boast held that most of the world's loganberries grew within thirty miles of town.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/snag-slice-history-vintage-beaver-grape-crate-label-treasures-gifts\"\u003eVintage 1950s Beaver Brand Crate Label 🦫 — Victor Fruit Growers, Victor, California\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/1950s-vintage-william-tell-crate-label-unearths-history-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1950s William Tell Brand Apples Crate Label 🍎 R.N. 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