Dean Ferris Florists began as a Farm and Florist Shop on Maple Avenue. This ad from The Highland Democrat, July 23, 1921 When I was first married in 1974, Dean Ferris designed the flower arrangements. Dean Ferris Florist, 1510 Maple Ave, Peekskill, NY From the Ferris Family Archives. Carlton B. and Elizabeth (Peterson) Ferris, was born September 30, 1866, and lived in Peekskill, Westchester County, New York., born September 30, 1866 and died July 6, 1935; married 1888 Ella Thompson born November 20, 1870/1 Brooklyn NY and died March 31, 1953. Dean was educated in the public schools and in the Pennsylvania State College, spending two years in the latter institution. Leaving school at the age of seventeen, he went into the greenhouse business. He acted as correspondent for several agricultural papers, and for a number of years, was a crop reporter for the U.S. Government. He was a member of the Cortlandt Lodge, No. 34, Free and Accepted Masons, of Peekskill, New York; Thirty-second Degree Mason; member of the Lodge No. 744, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Peekskill; and past master of Cortlandt Grange, No. 889; member of the Columbia Hose Company No. 1; director of the Westchester and Putnam Counties Fire Relief Association; a member of the St. Peters Protestant Episcopal Church of Peekskill. 1986-Early in 1885, a young couple by the name of Dean and Ella Ferris bought a large tract of land at the corner of Maple Avenue, extending down to include what is now Montross Avenue and Ferris Street. They bought the land from Chauncey M. Depew, State Senator. This was a very bold, courageous step for such a young couple because they had very little capital, and knew that they would have to work very, very hard to pay off the mortgage, which Depew agreed to hold for them. However, they were accustomed to hard work having been brought up on large farms in the Town of Cortlandt, in the Watch Hill and Maple Avenue sections of the town. So they built a large farmhouse on the extreme end of the land facing on Maple Avenue and used all the rest of the beautiful flat lands for a truck farm. They grew vegetables, every kind of vegetable there is, and trucked them into the City to be sold. Dean Ferris even made horseradish, bottled it and sold it after receiving a patent from the Government. They worked very hard on the land and as the children came along (11 in all) they, too, helped with the work and the truck farm was very successful. At about that time (the early 1900s) there were many estates in Peekskill and vicinity, which had their own greenhouses or conservatories. It was very fashionable in the 1890s to have your own conservatory and grow your own flowers and plants. One of these estates was the Canfield Estate on East Main St. (former Harriet Beecher Stowe Homestead), which was St. Peter’s School in later years, now being used for the building of new homes. St. Mary’s Convent was another large Institution, which had several large greenhouses. Several of these owners decided that they would like to tear down the greenhouses, as time went on, because they were too expensive to keep up. Consequently, they contacted Dean Ferris and offered him their greenhouses if he would tear them down and take them away. Dean, being a very ambitious and far-seeing young man, accepted their offer and he and several of his sons tore down the greenhouses and conservatories and reconstructed them on their property on Maple Avenue so that they could grow vegetables in the wintertime. Gradually, they began to plant some flowers along with the vegetables and soon people were coming to the new greenhouses to buy flowers. They were asked to make up funeral pieces and wedding bouquets as well. That is how Dean Ferris started in the floral business. Gradually, they became so busy with the flowers that they had to discontinue the truck farm and they gave that land to the Village, which became the upper end of Depew Park, which is now Ferris Street, named for the family. At about that time, 1917, the Village of Peekskill decided to widen Maple Avenue and they needed some of the land on which the old farmhouse stood, so Dean tore down the old house and built the present home on the property next to his store where the present Ferris Family lives. The family worked very hard at the floral business, the children sometimes delivering geranius, etc., on their way to Drum Hill School, and during the Depression of the early 1930s it was very hard to make a living selling flowers (a non-necessity) but they hung on and came through the Depression just fine. At that time, they also opened a Lawn Mower shop on the premises and this developed into quite a lucrative business. Dean’s eldest son, Victor, continued to run the business after his father died at age 65 of a sudden heart attack which occurred in the shop while he was making a funeral piece. Two of Dean’s sons had served in WWI and one son, Lee, was killed in WWII; his grandson, Victor, also served in WWII. Edward, son of Dean and Ella (Thompson) Ferris, was born October 12, 1911, and lived in Peekskill in his early years and then moved to Buchanan, NY , Westchester County, for the remainder of his life. He graduated from Peekskill High School where he excelled in track and field events. He was especially successful in the pole vault. Upon graduation, he attend Farmington Agriculture College in Farmingdale, Long Island, NY. After graduation he held a number of jobs dealing with his family business of agriculture and florists. He worked for General Motors, Fisher Body Division in Tarrytown, NY for more than 38 years. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Peekskill; and past master of Cortlandt Grange, No. 889. He is a member of Buchanan Fire Department; and a member of St. Peters Protestant Episcopal Church of Peekskill. He married Guinevere (Bogardus) Ferris (born January 17, 1916), of Montrose, NY on September 28, 1934. Died April 12, 1991. The florist business was sold after Mrs. Ferris died in 1991 to Forever Yours Florist now on Welcher Avenue.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 04:34:00 +0000
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