Oregon Apple Day

November 15, 1915 was “Oregon Apple Day” at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.  Some Oregon apples had been on display from the time the exposition opened.  The Weekly Gazette-Times reported (November 12, 1915) that “...throughout the season attendants have been continually besieged with the plea for an Oregon apple or just a sample of the fruit... countless numbers have offered to buy but the attendants could only give the addresses of Oregon growers who could supply the demand.” 

To address this demand, Oregon growers in the Willamette Valley shipped 50 boxes, each containing approximately 96 apples, to the fair.

 H. J. Moore apple orchard near Philomath area, circa 1910.

 Picking apples for the Oregon Apple Company,
Benton County west of Monroe, circa 1915.

Growers from other parts of the state also shipped apples so that between 25,000 and 30,000 apples were available to distribute free to fair goers on Apple Day. People obviously liked the apples as some growers had reported increased sales in the San Francisco market of 100 percent.  

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon