John Lewis Childs was a horticultural

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

 businessman and politician who founded Floral Park, New York

Floral Park, New York

Floral Park is an incorporated village in Nassau County, New York, United States, on Long Island. The population as of the US Census of 2010 is 15,863. The village is at the western border of Nassau County, and is located in both the Town of Hempstead and the Town of North Hempstead...

. In addition to a widespread reputation for being a zealous ornithologist, Childs is also credited with founding the first seed catalog business in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

About

Childs was born in Franklin County, Maine

Franklin County, Maine

Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of 2010, the population was 30,768. Its county seat is Farmington.Franklin County was established on 9 May 1838.-Geography:...

, and grew up in Buckfield

Buckfield, Maine

Buckfield is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. Buckfield is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England City and Town Area. It is a member of Maine School Administrative District 39 along with nearby Hartford and Sumner...

. His career in horticulture began in 1874, when he took a job with C. L. Allen of Queens

Queens

Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

. Soon afterwards he began renting, then buying land in nearby East Hinsdale, Queens County, near other
nurseries.

Business

Within five years of building his own seed and bulb business and starting America's first seed catalog business, Childs established a bustling business. The volume of his business is attributed with the expansion of the Floral Park Post Office and nearby village businesses. Additionally, Childs was responsible for building more than 20 buildings in Floral Park, including hotels, lumber mills and his own printing press. He also provided a public park for the community, built the first school in town, and served as the first town president, which later became the office of mayor.

Politics

In 1894, and after a contested race, again in 1896 he was elected New York State Senator from Floral Park, and during his term he ferried a bill establishing a State Normal School in nearby Jamaica. He ran for U.S. Congress twice, losing both times.

Land holdings

Childs bought a great deal of land in the area around Floral Park. His extensive land holdings related mainly to his seed catalog business, with more than 1000 acres (4 km²) used for that purpose near St. James, New York

St. James, New York

St. James is a census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 13,268 at the 2000 census. St. James is part of the Town of Smithtown, New York, located on the North Shore of Long Island. The zip code is 11780....

 and eastern Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

. Today, "Flowerfields" is an area within St. James that was originally founded by Childs around 1909.

Ornithology

Childs maintained one of the largest private ornithology

Ornithology

Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...

 libraries in the United States, and had more than 700 personally collected specimens in his collection. He was also a friend of John Burroughs

John Burroughs

John Burroughs was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress,...

, who contributed articles on birds to Childs’ magazine called The Warbler.

Death

Childs died aboard a New York Central train from Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

 to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1921. His company continued to operate in the 1920s, only stopping in the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. His wife sold the seed catalog operation to the Edward T. Bromfield Seed Company in the mid 1920s. Childs’ realty holdings were sold in the mid 1930’s, valued by the broker at $2,000,000. Childs's ornate 18 room Victorian house in Floral Park was torn down in 1950.

External links

• Historic photo of Childs
• Historic photos of Childs' property and donations