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Ellwanger and Barry papers

 Collection
Identifier: BB.E47

Biographical/Historical note

The Ellwanger and Barry Nursery was founded in May 1840 by George Ellwanger (1816-1906) and Patrick Barry (1816-1890). George Ellwanger was born in Wurtemberg, Germany and apprenticed to a horticulturist in Stuttgart from 1831 to 1835, when he emigrated to the United States. He settled in Rochester, and after working for William Reynolds and Michael Bateham as foreman of the Rochester Seed Store from 1836 to 1838, purchased the nursery portion of the business. He took as a partner Thomas Rogers, a mulberry tree salesman, but the enterprise was not a success and in 1840 he began again with Patrick Barry.

Barry was a native of Belfast, Ireland. He taught briefly in the Irish national schools before emigrating to New York in 1836. He worked for four years at the Prince Nursery in Flushing, Long Island.

1840 to 1865 was a period of foundation and expansion for the nursery. The partners purchased seven acres on Mt. Hope Avenue, which by continued acquisitions, grew to 100 acres in 1851, 400 acres in 1856 and 500 acres in 1859. The original seven acres formed the nucleus of the operation. The green houses and sheds were situated there, as well as a model arboretum and display garden. In 1854 the partners built a brick office designed in the Gothic style by the architect A.J. Davis.

Sales were both by wholesale and retail, either directly from the nursery, from catalogues, or from agents. The first catalogue was issued in 1843 and after 1854 it was published annually in parts for fruit trees, ornamentals and flowers, roses and green house plants. The agents were employed either directly by Ellwanger and Barry or by retailers who bought the stock wholesale. The company opened a branch in Toronto, Ontario in 1844 and in Columbus, Ohio in 1854. George Leslie was in charge of the Toronto operation, Michael Bateham of the Columbus branch.In order to expand, the nursery acquired stock from other nurseries in eastern United States and from Europe during the periodic buying trips made by George Ellwanger. By the 1850's the nursery enjoyed a reputation for completeness of inventory, accuracy, and reliability, and was responsible for such innovations as dwarf fruit trees. In 1860 Ellwanger and Barry employed 250 men at the peak of the season, and 80 in the winter months.

The partners entered the real estate business as the city expanded southward. In 1856 they laid out and divided Cypress Street into deep lots and there built modest frame houses intended for their senior workmen.

The period from the Civil War to 1890 was a time for consolidation. The area under cultivation reached a maximum of 650 acres in 1871. The market for Ellwanger and Barry stock was national and world-wide: the nursery supplied trees to California and the far west, and to Japan, Korea and Australia.The real estate business assumed increasing importance. In addition to Cypress and Linden Streets, laid out in the 1850's, the firm began to divide land owned east of South Avenue and built small houses for sale. In 1888 the firm built a multi-story stone office building on State Street. The real estate interest also extended to the northern section of the city where Ellwanger and Barry developed the Maplewood district.

Patrick Barry died in 1890 and was succeeded by his son William Crawford Barry. By this time the nursery business suffered from competition with western nurseries, and the company began to update its practices. The original personal partnership was incorporated in 1900 as the Ellwanger and Barry Nursery Company and the Ellwanger and Barry Realty Company, with William Crawford Barry as president, Charles Patrick Barry as treasurer and Charles Maloy as secretary. The remaining members of the Ellwanger and Barry families were the sole stock holders.The real estate company continued to subdivide and build up former nursery land to the east, extending Mt. Vernon, Meigs, Crawford, Mulberry and Rockingham Streets. That part of the business assumed increasing importance as the nursery declined.About 1910 the Rich Lands Nurseries, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ellwanger and Barry, was organized to try to attract a portion of the retail market by using premiums and offering a reduced variety of stock.

After the death of W.C. Barry in 1916, the third generation, faced with declining sales and rising costs, closed the nursery business in 1918. The real estate company continued to build on former nursery land and between 1918 and 1929 laid out the land which extended to South Clinton Avenue: Mulberry, Rockingham, Gregory Hill Road and Highland Parkway. After the hiatus of depression and war, the last major undertaking was Manor Parkway, on the area of the old nursery, facing South Avenue, in 1955. The real estate business was liquidated in 1963.The Ellwanger and Barry Company made a number of gifts to the City of Rochester. Among these were specimen trees for the Mt. Hope cemetery in 1847 and land on Meigs Street at Crawford for School #24. They also donated to the city in 1888 20 acres near the city reservoir on South Avenue, which became the nucleus of the first park in Rochester, Highland Park. With the gift of land went a three story wooden pavilion, dedicated to the children of Rochester.

Of the two partners, Patrick Barry became well known nationally for his publications on fruit and horticulture. He edited the horticultural department of the Genesee Farmer from 1844 to 1852, and edited A.J. Downing's periodical The Horticulturist from 1853 to 1854, when it was owned by James Vick of Rochester. He published The Fruit Garden in 1851, which remained in print until 1920. He also wrote A Catalogue of Fruits for the American Pomological Society in 1862. Patrick Barry served as president of the Western New York Horticultural Society from 1871 until his death in 1890. His son William Crawford Barry succeeded him, serving from 1890 until his death in 1916.

Patrick Barry and his wife Harriet (Heustis) Barry had six sons and two daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter lived to maturity. The collection contains the papers of the sons William Crawford Barry (1847-1916) and his wife Minnie (Gaffney) Barry, Charles Patrick Barry (1852-1907) and his wife Julia (Wald) Barry and daughter Harriet (Barry) Leisching (1859-1951) and her husband Bernhard Leisching (1868-1934). There are also the papers of Frederic Gaffney Barry, the second son of William C. Barry, and miscellaneous items pertaining to other members of the family.William Crawford Barry joined his father Patrick Barry in the nursery business. About 1868 he became a junior partner after the completion of his education. He was elected president in 1881 of the American Nurserymen's Association. He was the first president of the American Rose Society, president of the Eastern Nurserymen's Association and, after 1890, president of the Western New York Horticultural Society. With the death of Patrick Barry in 1890, W.C. Barry became a full partner and president of both the nursery and the real estate companies when they were incorporated in 1900. He was also president of the Rochester Trust Company, vice-president of Lincoln National Bank, and a director of the Rochester Electric Railroad and the Rochester and Suburban Railroad. He served as a member of the Rochester Park Commission from 1888 to 1916. William Crawford Barry built a frame house next to the Patrick Barry House on Mt. Hope Avenue. He married Minnie Gaffney, who died in 1911. They had seven children, of whom five lived to maturity.

Charles Patrick Barry was the third son of Patrick Barry. He was educated at the University of Rochester, earning a bachelor's degree in 1873 and a master's in 1879. He entered the nursery business and held the position of vice-president of the nursery and realty companies after incorporation in 1900. He married Julia Wald, sister of Lillian Wald, in 1888. They lived on Linden Street until 1892, when they moved to a large stone house on East Avenue. After the death of Charles Barry in 1907, Julia and the three children left Rochester.

Harriet Barry was the second and surviving daughter of Patrick Barry. In 1892 she married Bernhard Leisching a native of Stuttgart who entered the nursery business in 1888 as a clerk. He became a bookkeeper at the Flour City Bank in 1889, and eventually was made a director. He was also vice-president of the Ellwanger and Barry Realty Company. After the death of Harriet (Heustis) Barry in 1901, Harriet and Bernhard Leisching moved into the Patrick Barry House. She lived there during her widowhood and until her death in 1951.

Frederic Gaffney Barry was the second son of William Crawford Barry. He graduated from Harvard in 1900, and then joined the nursery business. With the close of the nursery he became president of the Realty Company, and presided over the development and disposition of the remaining lands. He was an active supporter of civic music and of Catholic lay organizations. Frederic Barry lived in his father's house on Mt. Hope Avenue until his death in 1961.

Scope and Contents

The Ellwanger and Barry Papers includes the records of Ellwanger and Barry Nursery to 1918, including correspondence, order books, sketchbooks, stock record books, catalogs, price lists, inventories, and account books; records of Ellwanger and Barry Realty Company to 1963, including financial and legal papers, account books, payroll records, and blueprints for houses on the Ellwanger and Barry tract. Also business and personal correspondence, account books, and financial records of Patrick Barry, Charles P. and Julia Wald Barry, Bernard and Harriet Barry Liesching, and Arthur A. Barry, including much information about Rochester banks and civic organizations. Also family photographs and scrapbooks; memorabilia; diaries of Patrick Barry, 1857-72; and record of soldiers' bounties, 1862-1863.

Creator

Dates

  • Creation: 1818-1963

Language of Materials

English

Extent

67 box(es) (67 boxes and 266 volumes)

Access

The Ellwanger and Barry Papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Books Special Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.

Use

In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the Ellwanger and Barry Realty Company 1963 and of Mrs. Donald MacNab, March 1972.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, item date], Ellwanger and Barry Papers, BB.E47, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Arrangement

INDEX

Ellwanger and Barry Nursery, 1839-1921: Boxes 1-31, Volumes 1-137

Boxes 1-22, Volumes 1-3: Correspondence

Box 23, Volumes 4-5: Nursery Company Corporation Records

Boxes 24-30, Volumes 6-18: Horticultural Notes, Fruit Evaluations, Inventories and Indexes of Plants

Boxes 30-31, Volumes 19-48, Flat Box 1: Sales records, Advertising, Printed Ephemera

Volumes 49-125: Account Books, Bank Books, Check Stubs and Pay rolls

Volumes 126-137: Rich Land Nurseries, 1911-1917

Ellwanger and Barry Realty Company, 1856-1963: Boxes 32-43, Volumes 138-231

Boxes 32-33: Correspondence, Stockholders' Records and Financial Records

Box 34, Volumes 138-208: Account Books, Bank Books and Check Stubs

Boxes 35-41: Legal Documents, Deeds Mortgages and Land Contracts

Box 42, Volumes 209-216: Construction and Subdivision Records

Box 43, Volumes 217-230: Maintenance of properties

Box 44, Volume 231: Ellwanger and Barry Library, Patrick Barry House, Maplewood Association, Holy Sepulchre Cemetery

Family and Personal Papers: Boxes 45-66, Volumes 232-266

Boxes 45-46: Charles J. Maloy

Box 47: Barry Family Correspondence

Box 48, Volumes 232-235: Patrick Barry and Harriet (Heustis) Barry

Box 49-54, Volumes 236-261: William Crawford Barry and Minnie Louise (Gaffney) Barry

Box 55-57: Charles Patrick Barry and Julia (Wald) Barry

Boxes 58-59, Volume 262: Bernhard Liesching and Harriet Elizabeth (Barry) Liesching

Boxes 60-62, Volumes 263-266: Frederic Gaffney Barry

Boxes 63-66: Miscellaneous Members of Barry Family

Photographs and Oversize Material

Boxes 67-70

Flat Boxes 2-6

Map Drawer, Alcove 6

Related Archival Materials

See: Blake McKelvey, "The Flower City: Center for Nurseries and Fruit Orchards," Rochester Historical Society Publications, 18, (1940) pp.121-169.

University of Rochester Library Bulletin, 35, (1982). Contains several articles pertaining to the Ellwanger and Barry families and the nursery.

Existence and Location of Copies

See: Ellwanger & Barry Horticultural prints for digital collection of images.

Separated Materials

The Arthur Augustine Barry Papers were removed from the collection and catalogued separately under the call number D.180.

Title
Ellwanger and Barry papers
Author
Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
Date
undated
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Library Details

Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library

Contact:
Rochester NY 14627-0055 USA