PostalPast
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Giant grape vine, San Gabriel, California, circa 1910

Subjects
Agriculture & FarmsHistoric Trees
Card type
Lithograph
Date
c. 1907 (Golden Age)
Front of Giant grape vine, San Gabriel, California, circa 1910, c. 1907 lithograph postcard
Front
Back of Giant grape vine, San Gabriel, California, circa 1910, c. 1907 lithograph postcard
Back

About this postcard

A massive, gnarled grape vine trunk rises from the ground and spreads its canopy of leaves and hanging purple clusters across a heavy wooden arbor of posts and beams, with a bench at the right. The card labels it the "Giant Grape Vine" of San Gabriel, California, the famous Old Vine traditionally associated with Mission San Gabriel Arcángel and said to have been planted by the mission fathers in the late 18th century. For decades the vine was a celebrated tourist sight, its trunk eventually measuring several feet around before it died in the early 20th century.

Postcard Details

Message · English, in pen

Largest Grape Vine in the World Trunk 8 ft. 3 in. in circumference Branches cover 1/2 an acre. Sixty posts uphold the frame This vine is known as the Mission Grape. Was brought to California by the Mission Fathers at the founding of the Franciscan Missions in Cal. Grapes are blue in color and quite small but very prolific. Used extensively for making wine. age about 100 years.

PublisherBenham Company
GIANT GRAPE VINE SAN GABRIEL, CAL. 1106 --- Published by Benham Company, Los Angeles, Cal. Made in California POST CARD This Space for Message This Space for Address Stamp Here Domestic 1 Cent Foreign 2 Cents
Addressed to

No address detected

Postcard record

PublisherBenham Company
Series1106
ConditionGood
Place depictedSan Gabriel, CA
PublisherBenham Company, Los Angeles, CA
NotesThin white border; printed card number 1106 in the caption; light edge and corner wear. No postmark. Divided-back "POST CARD" stock with printed "This Space for Message" / "This Space for Address" panels; published by Benham Company, Los Angeles, Cal., "Made in California"; tinted halftone print, no white border; paper loss/tear at left edge over the message; pencil "50" at lower right.

Cite this card

Giant grape vine, San Gabriel, California, circa 1910, postcard, c. 1907. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/giant-grape-vine-san-gabriel-california-circa-1910. Accessed October 24, 2026.