Texas Watermelon Photos for National Watermelon Day

We observe this occasion to showcase our photographs of watermelons.  The earliest are family photographs, one dating to the early 1900s.  People posing with their favorite summertime food made the group portrait more photogenic.  Our collection also includes numerous photographs taken by photojournalists who regularly recorded the arrival of watermelons in local markets.  These photographers also documented small-town watermelon festivals.

Since watermelons thrive in hot and sunny conditions, Texas is the perfect place to grow them.  There are sequential harvests from South Texas to North Texas, starting in the spring and continuing to early fall. With the prominence of the watermelon crops in certain regions, some of the towns started festivals to honor the growers and promote the watermelon market.  The festivals feature such activities as musical performances, parades, watermelon seed-spitting contests, and watermelon queen pageants. 

These photographs illustrate the popularity of watermelons in Texas.

Ricky Denning eats a slice, San Antonio, August 1955
(San Antonio Light Collection, L-4803-E)

Louise Recknagel, Elvira Heim, and Tonie Poppe, Round Top, ca. 1905. 
Photograph by Friedericke Recknagel. 
(General Photograph Collection, 087-0067, courtesy of E. W. Ahlrich)

Paul and Florence Luckenbach family, San Antonio, ca. 1925. 
(General Photograph Collection, 100-0476, courtesy Grace Luckenbach White)

Watermelon harvest on the Joe Hoelscher farm, La Salle County, ca. 1926. 
(General Photograph Collection, 087-0142, courtesy Theresa Gold)
 

Joe Louis Boggs with conjoined watermelons from
New Braunfels, June 1933. 
(San Antonio Light Collection, L-1465-J)

Mrs. Manuel Vasquez with Black Diamond watermelons for sale in Haymarket Plaza,
San Antonio, May 1954.  (San Antonio Light Collection, L-4697-A)

Farmers selling watermelons beside North Railroad Avenue, Luling, ca. 1955.  
Photograph by Buck Schiwetz.  (E. M. “Buck” Schiwetz Collection, 107-1018-02-02,
courtesy Patricia Schiwetz Nelson)
 

John Campbell carries a Jubilee watermelon at a Neighborhood Farmers Market Program sale,
San Antonio, June 1984.  (San Antonio Express-News Collection, E-0238-060-21)

Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Hill’s 75^th wedding anniversary celebration,
featuring watermelons grown on their farm, Weatherford, 1947.
(General Photograph Collection, 097-0076, courtesy Barbara Dent)

Merle Montgomery, queen of the Stockdale Watermelon Jubilee, in Peanut Festival Parade, Floresville, September 1954.  (San Antonio Light Collection, L-4721-F)
 

Watermelon seed-spitting contest, Luling Watermelon Thump, 1973. 
(General Photograph Collection, 077-0472-14)

Mrs. Richard Lee Ridgeway and Scotty admire a cement watermelon, recently placed in
City Park, Dilley, 1953. (San Antonio Light Collection, L-4616-K)

Peter O’Keefe, watermelon carver, San Antonio, July 1988. 
(San Antonio Express-News Collection,  E-0474-017-08).