HOPEWELL
VALLEY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Interesting Facts from Hopewell Valley's Past
From time to time we’ll be adding information to this page relating small bits of Hopewell Valley
history. It might be a little known
fact, or more details on a well
known subject. It might be tragic,
or it may be entertaining. It may connect our little corner of the
world to the growth of a new nation, or have nothing to do with the with outside world at all. It will always be factual and informative.
Check back every so often to see what we’ve added. It may be some recently uncovered treasure. If you enjoyed your visit, please consider supporting the work the Hopewell Valley Historical Society is doing by becoming a member today.
pring in Pennington for most of the 20th century was a spectacularly colorful time. Row upon row of beautiful flowers grew in profusion everywhere. Planted in long beds that lined Burd Street, between Academy and Lanning Avenues, and along Main Street at the southern end of town. All along East and West Curlis Avenue, and down Sked Street, gorgeous flowers bloomed everywhere. It’s hard to imagine now.
The Story of Howe Nurseries
What had originally begun as a passion for growing things and the associated sciences, turned into a nationally recognized landscaping operation and wholesale/retail plant selling business that was known as Howe Nurseries.
No other single person changed the face of Pennington more than William P. Howe. In 1910, Mr. Howe moved his large family to Pennington and immediately transformed a modest farmhouse,
into a grand, southern style mansion, complete with tall white columns in front, and the most elegant landscaping the village had ever seen. He would continue to transform his own landscape, as well as the landscape of the entire town, for the rest of his life. It’s said that he and his company planted more than two thousand-five hundred shade trees in Pennington. That’s a lot of green!
Howe Nurseries would expand its growing operation as Mr. Howe continued to buy up land at the southern end of Pennington. Just beyond the borough limits, he bought the Sked Farm on the west side of South Main Street, and the Curlis Farm, and parts of the Baldwin Farm, on the east side. This would eventually comprise
of over 300 acres of growing fields. The nursery would become
the largest employer in town and many men spent their entire life working there. Mr. Howe was fascinated with the science of growing evergreens and began as a wholesale grower of several different varieties. So to make ends meet while the pine trees were getting established, he began a wholesale operation selling flowers (peonies and iris). During WWI the land was used to grow vegetables for the war effort. As the Depression made its appearance on the American scene in the early 1930’s, Howe worked tirelessly not only to keep his business going, but to assure that his valued employees, who were also his neighbors, had jobs throughout those difficult years. He devised a plan to sell his product directly to the consumer. So
in 1932 he opened a roadside plant market in Pennington.
"Many claimed this was the very first retail
plant selling operation in the whole nation"
The family would ultimately open outlets in several other locations around the state. The reputation of the landscaping operation grew as more and more prestigious contracts came to the company. Many in town took great pride in the fact that Pennington’s very own Howe Nurseries had completed landscaping at Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Many more major commercial landscaping projects came in from Boston to Washington. These included planting for such companies as Connecticut General Life Insurance Company in Hartford, Connecticut and the Corning Glass Works, Corning, New York. These projects resulted in the company receiving many national landscaping awards, including one for their work at the Bristol-Myers Squibb World Headquarters in Lawrence Township. That award was presented to the company by First Lady Pat Nixon at the White House in Washington, DC.
After William P. Howe Jr. died in 1974, the family decided to dissolve the operation to satisfy estate taxes. So by 1976, the plant market on South Main Street was closed, and the nursery land was sold off. The largest acreage, on the east end of Curlis Avenue and south of East Welling, was developed. Some of the land was preserved and is now known as Curlis Lake Woods Nature Preserve. Jack Koeppel
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