October 21, 1967
Flowering Hawthorne 97128
Postmaster Robert E. Ballard is photographed with the McMinnville Post Office tree, a southern flowering Hawthorne, part of the original landscaping when the post office was built in 1935. It was when a visitor from the south saw the tree, took home some of the fruit and made jelly, that the delicious quality of this “crab apple” was discovered. Since her gift of several glasses to Postmaster Ballard, postal employees have made good use of 97128. In the spring the tree puts forth large white blossoms, blooming at the time the azaleas in hedge planting, a beautiful complement to the red and white of the post office brick.