Concord Nurseries, Inc. operates on over 750 acres, growing plant material in the Western New York counties of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, and Erie. This allows us to produce a complete line of excellent quality deciduous shrubs, trees and fruits, offered in a wide variety from seedlings to finished bare root and earth balled stock, shipped around the world.

We are proud to say that our nursery has always been a family endeavor. With a history that spans five generations and two families, we continue an unbroken line of tradition and satisfaction that comes from contributing to this wonderful green industry.

Concord’s roots are deep, dating back to the late 1800’s when a young Herbert E. Congdon began his life long career in the nursery industry. He traveled the Great Lakes Region by rail searching for the perfect climate for growing the small fruits that were his original interest, settling for a time in Western Michigan. Soon Herbert realized that the microclimate and soil types on the eastern shores of Lake Erie, where he had been born, were the most conducive to the production of the quality of plants he hoped to introduce into the market. He returned to Western New York and began to work for the Eugene Willett Nursery in North Collins.

With the death of Eugene Willett in 1916, Herbert Congdon and A. R. Wheelock, a son-in-law of Willett, established a partnership under the name of Wheelock and Congdon. By 1918, Herbert was ready to embark on his own long anticipated business venture; he initiated the H. E. Congdon Nursery on property that he purchased in 1910, the site on which Concord Nurseries still operates today.

Herbert enjoyed and developed his nursery until his untimely death in 1926. The business of the H. E. Congdon Nursery was then carried on by his widow, Grace, and his sons, Ivan and Merton. They were able to survive the difficult economic times of the Depression and World War II thanks to the strong demand for small fruit plants by farmers and home gardeners.

In 1950 the Congdon brothers decided to separate their business. Merton remained at the original location and changed the name of his nursery to Congdon’s Wholesale Nursery. He added shrubs to the product line, which created a huge demand from Midwestern growers and mail-order companies. With this essential increase in production, Merton realized that he needed to take on a partner. Robert S. Taylor, a local resident from a farming background, and with a degree in Agronomy from Alfred University, became a 50/50 partner in 1962.

The new partners expanded the product line to incorporate shade and flowering trees. Along with fruits and shrubs, the deciduous line was now complete. The nursery continued contract growing and began to venture into the open wholesale market.

In 1971 Merton and Robert changed the name of the nursery from Congdon’s Wholesale Nursery to Concord Nurseries, a name that was appropriate and would prove to be an easy transition for their customers.

With Merton Congdon’s retirement in 1974, the nursery evolved from a partnership into a corporation, becoming Concord Nurseries, Inc. Robert, with his wife, Alma, took on the task of managing the new corporation. Their son, David, joined them in 1975.

During the late 1970’s the Taylors realized that the nursery needed to diversify its customer base. Their target was set among customers in the wholesale, re-wholesale, mail order, garden center, and landscape construction fields, along with Federal, State and Municipal departments. This ambitious goal took five years to complete.

Sadly, Robert’s death came in October of 1986. David became president of the corporation, and Alma also remained actively involved in the nursery. David, with his degrees in Horticulture and Business from Alfred University, began to formulate a plan of priorities and goals for the company. These were simple but effective: increase the company at a moderate rate, increase productivity and improve quality, and decrease production costs. A versatile sales force was added, directed by Tom Suffoletto, who joined Concord in 1986.

Since 1988 many aspects of our goals have been accomplished. In 1990 Concord purchased Foster Nurseries, which added 225 acres to our growing fields and gave us a new customer base in the wine industry. Requests for grapevines come from as far away as Chile, Argentina and Japan. Over the years our storages have increased in area from 9200 to 62000 square feet. From our modest beginnings of 100 acres, Concord had at one time increased to more than 1000 acres under production. Most recently we have been able to efficiently reduce the growing area by purchasing strategically located farms, and utilizing modern horticultural practices such as installing drip and big reel irrigation systems and using improved digging equipment, thus allowing for more plants per acre. We have widened our customer base to the extent that only 14% of our product remains in New York State, with the majority of our market place being east of the Rocky Mountains, within the United States and Canada. And with our more consistent work force, we are better able to produce excellent quality, cost effective products.

Alma and her daughter, Diane still live next to the nursery; as do David and his wife, Karen. Their children including sons, Steven and Kevin have all taken their turn at nursery work. In 1998, daughter, Sarah and her husband, Tim Hidy joined the Concord Nurseries management team. This week their little daughter, Stephanie says that someday she will run the company.

We will see…