 |
 Specializing
in moving and replanting large trees, the Lewis and Valentine Nursery
was one of the most prominent landscape contracting companies in
the eastern United States during the first half of the twentieth
century.
Scope and Content
The collection includes brochures, photographs, books, trade catalogs,
company papers, and letters from clients dating from 1918 to 1970.
It was a gift from the late Hewlett Withington Lewis, former owner
of the Lewis and Valentine Nursery.
Biographical Note
The Lewis & Valentine Company was formed by
five brothers whose father had always hoped that his sons would
grow up to be lawyers. Instead, the Lewis brothers formed a
landscape design, installation and nursery firm that specialized
in developing “successful methods for transplanting full-grown
trees.” Their success, which was based on “doing well the task
which is usually considered impossible,” would have made their
father proud.
 The
company was the inspiration of H.C. Lewis, the oldest of seven
brothers, who believed that estate owners should have the luxury
of immediate landscapes, rather than waiting decades for their
landscapes to mature. The Lewis brothers started their business
in the early 1900s. Shortly afterwards, a Mr. Valentine, roommate
of Albert Addison Lewis at the Amherst Landscape School in Massachusetts,
invested in the business. After three years time Mr. Valentine
moved on and the Lewis brothers bought back his interest, but
continued to keep Valentine part of the company’s name.
The Lewis & Valentine Company was the largest
firm in America devoted to transplainting mature trees years
leading up to the Great Depression. It claimed to be “the most
experienced and most versatile, backed by an intimate knowledge
of horticulture and the development of fine estates.” Lewis
& Valentine was noted as a leader in providing complete
landscape services, from selling and guaranteeing the plants,
to designing and installation.
The Lewis & Valentine Company required that
their staff be men “of good character and not afraid of hard
work.” This was evident in the firm’s principle of no limitations
to the size of trees that they were willing to deliver. The
trees were often full-grown and ranged in age from twenty to
a hundred years old. Many were so large that 20 or more tons
of earth had to be moved during the relocation process.
During its 25 years in business, Lewis & Valentine
opened nineteen offices east of the Mississippi serving such
notable clients as Charles A. Schwab and P.S. duPont at his
Longwood Estate.
The Lewis & Valentine Company was set up as
an organization of independent companies. Each was incorporated
under the laws of the state in which they operated. The offices
were located in:
Ardmore, PA
Ashbury Park, NJ
Baltimore, MD
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland, OH
Darien, CT
Detroit, MI
Hanover, MA
New York, NY
Morristown, NJ
Palm Beach, FL
Pittsburgh, PA
Roslyn, LI, NY
*flagship office
Rye, NY
Valley Stream, LI, NY
Winston-Salem, NC
 The
praise from Lewis & Valentine Company’s clientele was endless.
“I wish to compliment you on the excellent character
of the work, on the trees selected and, particularly, on the
careful methods employed by your men in doing their work without
injury to the premises and leaving things in good order.” –
P.S. du Pont, Wilmington, Delaware
“I wish to say that I have never spent any money
for landscaping that has given me quite as much satisfaction than
this.” – Le Roy Latham, New York, New York.
“I desire to say that I consider you the best-equipped
and most skillful organization in the field for the moving of
large trees, box bushes, etc., and I shall hope to have you do
any work of this character which I may undertake in the future.”
– Walter C. Janney, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
All images on this web page are from
the Archives of American Gardens, Lewis and Valentine Collection.
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