Greenhouses on the Turnpike II

GREENHOUSES on the TURNPIKE II

As a teenager, I had the opportunity to work the summers for my dad who established a greenhouse construction and maintenance business, the Glenrich Company. At first his business was limited to the communities in this area, but as the demand grew for his services, he soon began traveling throughout Massachusetts. Being the boss’s kid, I was introduced to all the greenhouse owners and florists of the time. But I was not enamored with the painting business, law enforcement was my desire. During my time as the “painter‘s kid” then later as a police officer I had the opportunity to meet Hugo Friberg, Sylvia McGuffogg, Bob Bergevin, Bob Mc Goldbrick, Roger Bogosian and Red Berberian.

By the late 1960s it was evident that greenhouse agriculture and nurseries were becoming less popular in the northeast due primarily to operating costs and overhead. Greenhouses were initially heated during the cold weather months by forced hot water steam heat from large coal-fired boilers. The heated water ran through cast iron pipes on each side of the house maintaining a constant temperature. The greenhouse glass roofs needed glazing and painting inside and out every three to five years otherwise they would leak warm air during the cold months.  .

Greenhouse operation was a labor-intensive business as the boilers needed stoking 24/7 throughout the winter months. Plant watering was done every 12 hours until automatic systems were introduced. Although oil eventually replaced coal, the labor was reduced but the price remained the same. Maintenance costs diminished with the introduction of plastics that replaced glass, and aluminum frames replaced wood. But it was the labor, fuel costs and the increasing land values that eventually forced greenhouse agriculture to move to the sun-belt states where operating costs were less, and labor was plentiful.

Along the Turnpike in Westborough the farm land had become very attractive to investors and developers with its easy access to Route 495 and the Mass Pike. As the large tracts were being purchased for super malls and office buildings, the smaller tracts became available for fast-food chains, strip malls and single-building development. .

Although I was never inspired to take my father’s business to the next level, Westborough’s Billy Orlando (Orlando Greenhouse Sales) did. He worked for my dad in his final years and took the business over in very challenging times and made the transition from the conventional wood bars and glass of the large wholesale greenhouse ranges to a new building concept. What evolved were retail display and sales greenhouses with contemporary design, a return to homes being fitted with screen porches with sliding glass or Plexiglas windows, sunrooms, conservatories and garden sheds with glass roofs were making a return to popularity. 

Arthur George

Another early greenhouse horticulturalist on the Turnpike was Mr. Arthur George from Scotland. George worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland, before emigrating to Westborough where he worked for Paul Brigham at the Westboro Conservatory.

In 1899 he purchased a three-acre tract on the Turnpike from Butler W. Hero and built a large New England style farmhouse. The terms for the purchase were $50 down and $100 per year plus 5% per annum until 1903. During the next several years he built several greenhouses and incorporated cold frame technology to grow snapdragons and violets for the retail market.   

Arthur George holding his grand son Arthur George III. Arthur George III became the proprietor of the Checker Board Square Restaurant then the Dinette and Cow Shed.

 In 1946 the heirs of the George property sold it to William and Florence McCarthy of Shrewsbury for $8,000. In the mid 1950s my father was hired to remove some of the greenhouses and to rebuild them at a residence on Brigham Street in Northborough. Today the site is a landscape supply business. 

 Breezy Hill Nursery ~ Howard Smith

 In 1932 Howard Smith built Breezy Hill Nursery and showroom next to the Smith home. Located on the ramp road from Milk Street to Route 9 east just behind what is now Gerardo’s Bakery. Smith raised and sold potted plants and floral designs. He also maintained a tree and bush nursery for landscape elements. Pictured above is the retail store flanked by two greenhouses.  A third greenhouse was built off the left side and to the rear of the store.

 In 1964 Smith sold the property to Arvid Johnson, dba Progressive Tool and Die, and moved to a new home on Morse Street where he continued raising nursery stock. In 1971 the property was again sold to McShera Sales Co. Inc. Today the site is a day-care center.

 Bob Bergevin

 In December 1956 Paul Brigham sold the Westboro Conservatory to Hugo and Shirley (Brigham) Friberg. Then in 1963 the Friberg’s sold to Ralph and Eleanor Bedley.

 Bob Bergevin, dba Bergevin Inc. of Needham, purchased from Ralph and Eleanor Bedley the Westborough Conservatory in 1967. Bergevin continued growing carnations for the retail market. Bergevin also purchased four additional parcels, the right of way to the greenhouses from Lyman Street, a second right of way from the Turnpike and the house lots at 32 and 36 Lyman St.  

 In 1980, Bergevin Inc. sold the property to Julio and Nicolette Colangelo for $400,000. The entire site was cleared and the Westborough Shopping Center was established  

Sunny Slope Gardens ~ Roger Bogosian

 Upon returning from a tour of duty with the United States Navy in 1946, Roger Bogosian married Helen Kaprelian and began working at the Kaprelian family farm on the Turnpike. Originally a produce farm, Bogosian saw an opportunity to broaden the product line. He took his savings and borrowed enough money to reinvest into the business and established Sunny Slope Gardens on the Turnpike at Otis Street. He built six greenhouses of varying size with 22 cold frames and established a retail business growing and selling annuals, perennials, landscape trees and bushes and potted plants.   

 Some 20 years later the Bogosians decided to downsize the business. In 1969 A.J. Lane purchased all the original Kaprelian/Bogosian property from Otis Street to Indian Meadow Drive for $335,000 and began construction of the Fountainhead Apartments.  

This large tract was subdivided and 17 acres were set aside for three large seven-story apartment buildings that would be constructed in three stages. In 1970 the town assessed the property at $15,000 and an incomplete building with a model apartment was appraised at $62,300

However, Sunny Slope Gardens remained a landscape business with 20 employees while Bogosian maintained a large nursery stock on the west side of Otis Street behind the homestead. Then in 1986 Roger called it a day and sold the property for the construction of  WalMart, McDonalds and Bob Evans now Friendly Restaurant which closed in 2012.. Roger Bogosian died in 2013

Green Thumb Nursery ~ McGoldrick Family

TODAY THERE IS ONE: The Green Thumb Nursery remains the oldest family-owned and operated business on the Turnpike today. It began in 1950 when Bob and June McGoldrick purchased the Harold Moulton Kennels. Five acres was purchased for $8,500, and they built their first greenhouse in 1951. By 1955 McGoldrick added two 100-foot greenhouses.

 Bob McGoldrick became a pioneer in gravel culture growing or hydroponics. He was the first New England horticulturist to grow without soil or growing with the right chemicals. In the early years McGoldrick grew tomatoes in spring and summer, chrysanthemums in fall and winter. McGoldrick named his business, Green Thumb, “the sixth sense for telling what a plant needs when it needs it.”

 The 1955 photo above shows the four-lane concrete Boston & Worcester Turnpike. To the left is the farm land of the Lyman School. In the center are two of the greenhouses; a third and smaller house is adjacent to McGoldrick’s dwelling. At the top right are the Bowman farm and out buildings. Although the road was not very busy it was very noisy. Because the road was concrete, each vehicle created a noise when it passed over the expansion joints 

 In the 1960s green-plant technology and the introduction of potted plants for home landscapes became a very popular trend. Although business was good, Bob was encouraged to diversify to house plants and supply the retail market.

 Roses, geraniums, petunias, hydrangeas, azaleas, lilies and chrysanthemums became extremely popular for home gardening. Among others, Bob’s two largest buyers were the Iandoli Supermarket chain and SPAG. Bob remembers on one Saturday SPAG sold 10,000 potted geraniums. The more the retail market grew, the larger the Green Thumb expanded  In 1981 a retail store was built offering bedding plants, potted and hanging plants as well as a variety of home gardening needs.

 In 1989 Bob McGoldrick, owner of the Green Thumb, petitioned the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Division of Capitol Planning and Development, to purchase six acres of farmland once the estate of Nathan A. Fisher The land adjacent to the Green Thumb had not been farmed since it belonged to the Lyman School. The request was allowed and McGoldrick purchased the property for $42,600 with an agricultural restriction.

In 2008 Bob and his son Larry McGoldrick decided to sell the Floral Street Shrewsbury range and consolidate their greenhouse properties to the Green Thumb site and expanded the under plastic site to 100,000 square feet. However, the McGoldricks, realizing a need to diversify, altered their business plan in 2010 and reduced by half the amount of greenhouse area. The McGoldricks then built a contemporary garden center/showroom with an ice cream bar, a seasonal farmers market, a children’s play area with a petting zoo and a miniature golf course. The original property was subdivided and McGoldrick’s house along with six greenhouses were cleared from the property and sold to land developers.

Hugo Friberg of 19 Lyons St. bought a 3.4-acre tract formerly part of the Fenno Farm in 1955. The land bordered Lyons Street on the west, Thompson’s Lodge on the south and Fenno’s on the east and north. Friberg built a small greenhouse with attached power house on this lot until the property was sold in 1972 to Weston Geophysical for $70,000 Today the site is a small office/restaurant building

 Michael “Red” Berberian, a Westborough produce farmer, spent his entire life at the family’s Otis Street farm. In 1993 the family farmhouse caught fire and was a total loss. Red built a new house and constructed a 75-foot greenhouse to start vegetable seeds to replant in the spring and opened Red‘s Farm Stand. It was the last farm stand to close in August 2000. The greenhouse remains standing today. Red died in 2009.

 Glenn R. Parker