Seven years before Joseph R. Mayer of Elmwood Heights Realty Corporation sold the land that would become the Popular Super Market plaza, a garden center was thriving on an adjoining parcel on Westfield Road. That parcel was also owned by Mr. Mayer, and today's story tells of his Bray Park Garden Center.
The year was 1958, and Joseph Mayer had purchased land across Westfield Road from Michigan Street. On a portion of the land adjacent to the southbound lane of present-day I-91, he constructed a building to house a garden center.
Thinking back to that era, garden centers in general were pretty rare in Holyoke. The Elmwood area was growing, with many new housing starts in large part due to Mr. Mayer's construction efforts. There was a ready market for these residents to add shrub and flower plantings to their properties.
In May of 1958, the city granted Mr. Mayer a building permit to construct a one-story, 60-by-20-foot building. The estimated construction cost was $10,000. The business was initially named the Bray Park Nursery Gardens. Although the garden center was previously denied by the Board of Aldermen for commercial zoning, it was approved as agricultural.
The business opened on December 12, 1959, selling balsam Christmas Trees, wreaths, cemetery baskets, and table centerpieces. The owners were shown as Joseph and Florida (Gelinas) Mayer.
By the following year, the business was in full swing, offering fruits and vegetables in addition to plants and flowers. Robert Lynch was shown as the manager. A recurrent ad ran for many years for sifted loam with peat moss added, sold by the bushel. For the 1961 gardening season, the shop carried fertilizers, lime, seeds, peat moss, peat humus, along with many plantings. Its ads identified the store as "Your Complete Garden Center."
In 1961, Bray Park Gardens received a permit to construct an aluminum canopy at the front of the store to display merchandise. Two years later, a nursery and agricultural equipment shelter was constructed for $4,500.
In 1964, Elmwood Heights Realty sold a 4-acre commercially zoned parcel of land to John E. Hayes Realty of Hartford, Connecticut, with plans to build the popular Market shopping plaza and a pharmacy. There would be about 250 parking spaces for the plaza's customers.
In the fall of 1964, Bray Park Gardens offered a fall lawn care service. Lawns could be verticut, vacuum-cleaned and aerated, top-dressed, limed, fertilized, reseeded and rolled to prepare the landscape for the winter and spring ahead. Jobs were limited to work within the city's boundaries.
In 1966, the Mayers petitioned to have the property rezoned from Agricultural to Commercial. The request was approved.
The business continued, I-91 was built, and retail ads pinpointed its new location as between the I-91 overpass and Popular Market Super Market.
In October 1978, Bray Park Gardens was sold to Schermerhorn's Fish Market, then owned by James Proulx. The new owner planned to continue operating the garden center and a branch of the seafood market. In December 1978, the business was renamed Schermerhorn's Fish and Garden Center. The era of Bray Park Garden Center had ended.
The story of Joseph R. Mayer and his impact on Elmwood's real estate development will be featured in the next installment.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Price & Lee, Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
