TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Township once was a hotspot of flower growing. As the weather warms and our attention returns to gardening, here is the story of two long-gone local industries: Beuerlein’s Home of Flowers and Orchidvale.
Beuerlein’s Home of Flowers
Beuerlein’s was a large operation on Pascack Road in the area of present-day Amherst Drive (across from the Bethany Community Center). In 1918, four brothers—Joseph, Charles, Peter, and Bill Beuerlein—bought the property that included 55 acres.
As early as the mid-1800s, there was already a business at this location. While these days the township has no manufacturing component, this wasn’t always the case. Starting in the 1850s, Kent sawmill and chair factory was located on the Musquapsink Brook where it crosses Pascack Road (at Amherst Drive). The brook was dammed to create a small pond that powered the mill.
The Kent family, originally from England, purchased the land in 1857 and operated a thriving chair-making and sawmill business in the township for many years. The area surrounding the factory was nicknamed Kent Town, as the homes around the mill were occupied by family members.
The Beuerlein brothers settled on the former Kent Town land, built 14 greenhouses, and ran their business out of Kent’s old sawmill building. They brought with them a background in growing; their father had a greenhouse business in Elmhurst, Long Island.
At the height of their success, the Beuerleins raised over 300,000 cut flowers annually—varieties such as carnations, asters, snapdragons, and chrysanthemums. In fact, Beuerlein’s Home of Flowers won many awards for its blooms, becoming internationally known as the top grower and supplier of carnations in the U.S. and Europe. The business provided employment to as many as 40 local residents all year long, and twice that number in the summer.
Beuerlein’s closed up shop in the 1950s. On April 25, 1964, the old sawmill building that housed Kent’s and later Beuerlein’s was demolished. Soon after, the remaining greenhouses were torn down. The last remnant of these businesses, the mill pond that helped power Kent’s sawmill, disappeared after a major flood in 1971.
Today, Amherst Drive homes occupy the area once known as Kent Town.
Orchidvale
Just up the street from Beuerlein’s, George Schlegel opened Orchidvale in the 1930s. In its time, it was one of the largest orchid nurseries in the world, which was quite a claim to fame for a town that had about 400 residents.
Orchidvale got its start when Schlegel moved 40,000 plants from his previous nursery in Brooklyn, New York, to a one-story, green-shingled building on Pascack Road. The flowers were grown in rows of low greenhouses stretching 350 feet. Oil-burning furnaces produced steam that maintained a tropical temperature, and Orchidvale’s towering smokestack became a familiar landmark. Orchids were grown in every variety under the guidance of specialist Arthur E. Miles, whose flowers received frequent prizes at international flower shows.
When Schlegel died, Orchidvale was auctioned off in 1938 to a syndicate of New Jersey and New York horticulturists headed by Frank J. Lind of Clifton. When this group bought the nursery, about 31,000 plants were thriving there. The horticulturists discontinued retail sale of orchids, and instead sold the plants nationwide through a New York wholesaler.
In addition to running Orchidvale, Lind was active in local politics and served as the township’s mayor twice during the 1950s. Back then, the township was run by an elected five-person committee similar to today’s council. However, a major difference was that instead of a mayor elected by popular vote, the office rotated from year to year among the committee members making up the majority party. Lind was appointed to the position of mayor in 1951 and 1955. That form of government continued in the township until the late 1960s.
Lind retired from the orchid business the early 1960s and closed down Orchidvale. The Pascack Road property is now an Oritani Bank. Beuerlein’s Home of Flowers operated out of a 19th century sawmill building. It was demolished in 1964.