vintage vegetable crate labels

Since the 1880's fruits have been transported across the United States on the transcontinental railway. Luxury fruits, such as oranges and grapefruits were very popular back east and to advertise their wares, the shippers had eye-catching labels put on all their wooden shipping crates.

After a time this extended to vegetables, many people either grew their own or bought locally grown vegetables so they took a while to catch on, but once they did, labels were created for vegetable shipping crates.

Some vintage images are below, just a warning, one or two may seem a little offensive, but those were the times.

There are more California images than any other state, not because they grew more vegetables, but the graphics were first used in California, for fruit. California was just quicker to adopt these type of graphics for vegetables than the rest of the country, so more were drawn there, and more images are still around.