Buildings & Structures Archives | Page 2 of 2 | Applebox Belles: The Women of Lake Country’s Packinghouses

The packinghouse crew of the Vernon Fruit Union, Oyama, 1920s

The Vernon Fruit Union operated a packinghouse in Oyama from 1913 to 1974.

Vernon Fruit Union, Oyama, 1940

At the packinghouse fruit was sized and graded and apples considered not suitable for market due to bruises, blemishes, or poor colour were culled. In the early years, […]

Packinghouse crew at Okanagan Centre, October, 1928

Left to right: Unknown, Malcolm Douglas, unknown, unknown, Ivy Fallow, J. W. Cole, Charlie Draper, unknown, Cliff Fallow, Alice Crowder, Sadie Rutt, Mrs. Rutt

Okanagan Centre, 1948

Main Street, Okanagan Centre, 1948. The packinghouse had an overhead conveyor which transported the boxed apples from the packinghouse to the storage facility across the road.

Vernon Fruit Union packinghouse, Oyama, 1931

The first attempt to unionize packinghouse workers took place in the 1930s but was unsuccessful due to the surplus of available workers.

The packing line at the Vernon Fruit Union, Winfield, early 1940s

As each packer completed her pack she stamped her number on the end of the box. This formed the basis for payment.

The sorting line at the Vernon Fruit Union, Winfield, early 1940s

The belles normally worked ten hours a day. Sorters were paid by the hour, earning less than $15 per week.

Kelowna Farmer’s Exchange packing school, 1914

The first packing school available to local women ran a class in the winter of 1914 at the Kelowna Grower’s Exchange packinghouse. Packing schools operated in the Okanagan […]

Women at work in the Woodsdale packinghouse, 1944

Grandmothers Helping to Pack Fruit Crop Grandmothers, schoolgirls and housewives have joined forces at Kelowna to play a big role in this year’s bumper apple crop. Clad in […]

Okanagan Centre packinghouse, 1950

The Okanagan Centre packinghouse extended on pilings over Okanagan Lake, where apples were loaded directly onto barges.

The Okanagan Valley Land Company, 1910

The Okanagan Valley Land Company planted thousands of acres of orchards in Lake Country. The main office was located near the wharf in Okanagan Centre.