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PROVIDING TREES AND PLANTS FOR FARMERS

One of the first nursery businesses in the area was owned and operated by A. M. Smith and C. E. Woolverton. In 1856, A. M. Smith moved to Grimsby from Vermont U.S.A. and went into business with Woolverton, growing and selling young plants and seedlings to local farmers from 1856 to 1871. In 1881 Smith moved to St. Catharines and opened a public nursery business.

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Smith and VanDuzer's Winona Nursery
1884 - 1885
Winona, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Grimsby Museum Collection

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E.D. (ERNEST D'ISRAELI) SMITH

Ernest D'Israeli Smith (better known as E.D.) was born in 1853 to Sylvester and Damaris Isabella McGee Smith. His parents sent him to the Hamilton Collegiate and while he was studying for a scholarship in 1873 to be an engineer, he developed vision problems. This caused him to leave school and return to the life of farming, assisting his mother and father on their family farm.

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Ernest D'Israeli Smith (E. D. Smith)
20th Century, Circa 1925
E. D. Smith Property, Winona, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Donated by the Niagara Fruit Institute
Grimsby Museum Collection

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A few years later E. D. Smith was dissatisfied with the production of the farm and decided to plant a few hundred grape vines. He had apples, plums and other berries on his farm but it was not until he began to work as a fruit dealer that he made a reasonable profit. He married Christina Armstrong and purchased his own farm in 1886 from the Bedell Family. According to the "Grimsby Independent" in September 1942, he paid $8300 for an eighty-five acre farm. The property was already named Helderleigh, and E. D. Smith decided to keep the name. Within a few years of moving he had built a fruit packing warehouse. In 1909 he would also build a beautiful stone home on the property and it would also share the name of Helderleigh.

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View of Helderleigh Nurseries from the Escarpment
20th Century, Circa 1910
Helderleigh Nursery, E. D. Smith Property, Winona, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Donated by the Niagara Fruit Institute
Grimsby Museum Collection

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Helderleigh - Home of E. D. Smith
1909 - 1948
E. D. Smith Property, Winona, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Donated by the Niagara Fruit Institute
Grimsby Museum Collection

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E.D. Smith Letterhead
25 February 1907
E. D. Smith Property, Winona, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Donated by the Niagara Fruit Institute
Grimsby Museum Collection

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HELDERLEIGH NURSERIES

E. D. Smith's fruit tree business was successful and in 1901 it was reported that Mr. Smith had 125,000 plum, 120,000 pear, 320,000 apple and 100,000 peach trees growing in his nursery and had plans to plant a similar number in the spring. He developed the nursery business to generate revenue in the off season of fruit farming as many of the business transactions in the nursery were made in the winter. Helderleigh Nursery opened in 1889 and first it focused on fruit trees for farmers in Niagara. Soon there were orders coming in from Brighton and Trenton Ontario, and Nova Scotia.

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Panorama of Helderleigh Nursery, the Fruit Tree Cellar and the Jam Factory Owned by E. D. Smith
20th Century, Circa 1918
E. D. Smith Property, Winona, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Donated by the Niagara Fruit Institute
Grimsby Museum Collection

37

Staff of the Helderleigh Nursery and Fruit Farm
19th Century, Circa 1895
Helderleigh Nursery, E. D. Smith Property, Winona, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Donated by the Niagara Fruit Institute
Grimsby Museum Collection

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Helderleigh Nursery Sheds
20th Century, Circa 1900
Helderleigh Nursery, E. D. Smith Property, Winona, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Donated by the Niagara Fruit Institute
Grimsby Museum Collection

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Three Grouped Photographs of Helderleigh Nursery Shipping and Packing Operation
19th Century, Circa 1898
Helderleigh Nursery, E. D. Smith Property, Winona, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Donated by the Niagara Fruit Institute
Grimsby Museum Collection

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30,000 Fruit Trees Shipped to Trenton from E. D. Smith's Helderleigh Nursery
20th Century, Circa 1900
Trenton, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Donated by the Niagara Fruit Institute
Grimsby Museum Collection