Tyler Texas Historic Postcard Collection: Rose Garden and Rose Fields

Tyler Vintage Postcard Collection: Rose Garden

Postcards represent yet another media, in addition to text, stories and photographs, that enables us to visualize, and remember, the past.

Knowing the value that such cards possess in documenting the past of Tyler and East Texas, we have assembled a small collection of historic postcards, and present them on this website.

Thus, this section attempts to build a more complete collection depicting the architecture of Tyler and East Texas during the first 50-60 years of the 20th Century.

The rose industry has played an important role in Tyler over the years. And the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden and Texas Rose Festival are major attractions in the area.

By the 1920s the rose industry had developed into a major business, and by the 1940s more than half the U.S. supply of rose bushes was grown within ten miles of Tyler. And by 1945, there were 200 nurserymen, with 1,500 employees, growing roses commercially in East Texas, with Smith County producing 80% of the total crop.

In the late 1950s almost 300 rose growers produced over twenty million plants. In addition to rose growing, the rose-processing industry developed during this time. With the use of cold storage and plastic for packaging, businesses in Northeast Texas processed both local plants and roses imported from Arizona and California.

It is hoped that its availability will provide another media contributing to the enjoyment and edification of those of you with East Texas connections. Enjoy the roses!

See 20 Million Roses in Bloom in Tyler Texas ... "The Rose Garden of Ameria"