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Newburgh: Cradle of the American Lawn Mower Industry

March 5, 2013 by Miguel Hernandez 21 Comments

mower ad Abraham Levitt, the man who arguably built more suburban homes in the United States than anyone else in the years following World War II once said that: “No single feature of a suburban residential community contributes as much to the charm and beauty of the individual home and the locality as well-kept lawns”

The ubiquitous American suburban lawn in America began 100 years before in 1841 when a 25 year old resident of Newburg New York named Andrew Jackson Downing published a landscape-gardening book entitled, “Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening.”

It counseled readers to improve themselves by improving their front yards and could well be the impetus of the self-help book craze of the later third of the 20th century. He believed that the perfect front yard had to have a large area of “grass mown into a softness like velvet.”

The book was quite a success and made Downing famous. Downing along with Fredrick Law Olmstead, Calvert Vaux,Frank J. Scott and other landscape architects set the guidelines for generations of American landscape designers to come. In 1870, for instance Scott, published the first volume ever devoted to “suburban home embellishment”: The Art of Beautifying Suburban Home Grounds.

Coldwell Lawn Mower WorksHowever, the realization of their lawns was beyond the reach of the ordinary citizen as it even the maintaining smallest lawn was a labor-intensive proposition. Furthermore, the equipment required was quite primitive and one needed just the right touch with a sharp and dangerous scythe to cut it at the right angle and length to give it the desired appearance. On the other hand, if one had them, one could let a their herd of goats or sheep go at it. This was impractical and of course the lawn owner was then left with the unpleasant task of cleaning up animal waste.

The fact is that lawns never would have become popular without lawn mowers and trade cards of the 19th century often depicted women and children dressed in pretty clothes having fun pushing the advertised lawn mowers over the broad lawns of large houses. These advertisements linked the lawn with a home in the country, family, health and recreation. In fact, few women and very few children could have used the heavy cast-iron mowers of the period and It is said that Andrew Jackson Downing had his lawns mowed at night “by invisible hands” so that his family and guests would not have to witness this “distasteful activity” (Handlin). The hired help did the mowing. However, the advertisements were attractive and, in some, young women even displayed quite a bit of ankle and leg. The message to men was that the equipment was so lightweight that even a woman or child could use it–that mowing was fun–like child’s play.

Coldwell adThere is some doubt as to who was the original inventor of the mechanical lawn mower. An old document in the United States Patent Office, dated 1825, which shows that one James Ten Eyk, of Bridgewater, N. J., invented a mowing machine. It was simple, having a box like a wagon box, with the forward end open, furnished with two shafts, one at the front end, on which were placed the revolving cutters, and the other above the center of the box on which were the driving wheels, and on which the box was hung. The driving shaft had on it two drive pulleys corresponding with two smaller ones on the cutter shaft and the two were connected by means of two rope belts. It was a revolving cutter field mower, and is the first revolving cutter of which any record can be found, but the inventor did not claim that it was a lawn mower.

The next authentic record of a revolving cutter mower was one invented by Edwin Budding, of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. Budding was born near Stroud in 1796. He was evidently an inventor, draftsman and mechanic of considerable ability. He invented the Budding wrench and various machines for use in the manufacture of woolen cloth. He was superintendent for the late George Lister, a manufacturer of Dursley, England. It is claimed that Budding took the idea of the lawn mower from a cloth clipping machine. He was granted a patent for his new invention, dated October 25, 1830, and there is an advertisement , dated 1830, shows that he sold three sizes of lawn mowers, manufactured in Stroud.

Strangely enough, another Newburgh resident, Horatio Swift, resolved the labor intense problem of maintaining a pristine lawn. Previous to 1855 probably all lawn mowers used in America were of English make. A few years prior to this a Mr. H. W. Sargent, of Fishkill, (and a close friend of Andrew Jackson Downing ) received a mower from England and sent it to Mr. Swift to be repaired, and it was upon Mr. Sargent’s suggestion that Swift began the manufacture of these machines. His advertisement dated 1855, states that he made four sizes ranging in price from $30 to $80. In his Matteawan plant the smallest mower he made weighed one hundred and fifty pounds and cost sixty-five dollars; the largest, horse drawn, was a forty-two inch mower and cost over three hundred dollars. Sargent’s own mower was horse-drawn; he said that with such a mower it was possible to accomplish in two or three hours more than a dozen men in a whole day. It could cut, roll, and gather the grass from an open acre in one hour.

For a number of years Mr. Swift had a monopoly of the lawn mower manufacturing trade in the U.S. but this ended in the late 1860s-early 1870s when two of his employees George L. Chadborn and Thomas Coldwell bought Swift’s stock and goodwill and went on work on their own and formed the firm of Chadborn, Coldwell & Company, which began operations in Newburgh producing the Excelsior Roller Mower.

It has been estimated that at this time there were only about three hundred American-made machines, plus a few imported English machines, in the country at that time. By 1891 the Chadborn & Coldwell Manufacturing Company of Newburgh was producing twenty thousand machines annually, and was in the process of expanding to be able to produce thirty thousand. In the same year Thomas Coldwell withdrew and formed the Coldwell Lawn Mower Company of Newburgh, and planned a new factory which could produce from 150 to 200 mowers each day. The business established by Thomas Coldwell was continued after his death in 1905 by his two sons.. William H. and Harry T. and it remained in business for into the 1940s. Over the years it was merged into various other manufacturing companies and ultimately became part of the current Toro Company of Minneapolis, MN.

Sources

The History of Orange County New York, edited by Russel Van Deusen and Elms, Publishers. Middletown, N. Y. 1908.
Downing’s Newburgh Villa. Arthur Channing Downs, JR Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3/4 (1972), pp. iv+1-113

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Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: Cultural History, Gardens - Landscape Architecture, Industrial History, Newburgh, Orange County

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. douglas kendall says

    July 1, 2013 at 3:33 PM

    my mother’s uncle a brazel worked at or was associated with coldwell lawnmower in newburgh many years ago. am sure before ww2 or much earlier. another uncle walter gedney cut grass for them. any info on either? that bldg was famous for its entrance was not ground level.

    sincerely,

    Reply
    • Maureen Browning says

      September 25, 2019 at 4:27 PM

      Hi Douglas,
      Am sorry do not know anything about your uncles but was wondering if you ever heard anything about Caldwell Lawnmower having a contract with Bendix Aviation during WW ll to make parts for planes. My father worked for Bendix and was living in Newburgh during the war.

      Reply
  2. Beth says

    July 24, 2013 at 8:09 PM

    I have a large Coldwell Mower Sketch/Drawing from 1899, it’s a bunch of cherubic babies laying all over various push mowers.

    Reply
  3. Bob Wilson says

    September 6, 2013 at 7:04 AM

    Not sure I’m correct about this, but I believe the building down by the river off North Water Street that housed the Coldwell firm and had its access from the street via a pedestrian bridge to its top floor was originally established as “Newburgh Steam Mills”. And as an aside, I recently purchased a reel, manual push lawn mower from Lowes, and found out that even today’s mowers of that type are incredibly difficult to push. Human push power is no match for electric or gasoline powered machines, duhhh…

    Reply
  4. Michael says

    September 15, 2014 at 10:11 AM

    I have a 1908 push mower coldwell. Great condition. What do you think the value this ?

    Reply
    • Miguel Hernandez says

      September 15, 2014 at 1:12 PM

      Have no idea as to the value. However there are a number of websites about Antique or vintage lawn mowers that you can consult.

      Miguel

      Reply
  5. anthony hernandez says

    October 27, 2014 at 8:23 PM

    i have a 1926 coldwell model m riding reel mower and roller with a redwing 4cyl engine runs and works all original looking for value and if anyone interested in purchasing from me

    Reply
    • Harry Munson says

      November 29, 2014 at 7:56 PM

      What are you asking for the Coldwell Mower.? Also where is it located, and do you have a picture you can send.? H.M.

      Reply
      • Harry Munson says

        December 1, 2014 at 6:49 PM

        My email rwthorobred@gmail.com

        Reply
      • Jared says

        December 8, 2016 at 8:43 PM

        I just found a beautiful coldwell horse mower in a barn.. trying to find info and someone who wants it. We are in Lake George.

        Reply
  6. Hee Snedeker says

    November 2, 2014 at 10:27 AM

    Thanks for the excellent article, I was looking for details like this, going to take a look at the other blog posts.

    Reply
  7. Cynthia Hunt says

    March 11, 2015 at 11:34 AM

    This is a great article. I was wondering if you could tell me where the image of the Excelsior Mower ad came from (little girl pushing the mower with people playing croquet in the background). I would love to get a high-resolution image of it to use in an exhibit I’m working on.

    Reply
    • Miguel Hernandez says

      November 2, 2015 at 9:53 AM

      sorry for the very late response. This is an unattributed image from https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:tm70nb08b

      Reply
  8. doug kendo says

    July 27, 2015 at 4:27 PM

    my mothers uncle, walter gedney invented improvements to the lawn mowers used at golf courses. He was born and died in Newburgh. During WW2 he worked at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard. I recall him bringing all of the kids to Highland Ice cream across from North Jr High School. He .was divorced. My mother said that I was his favorite

    Reply
  9. Marty Fuller says

    August 11, 2016 at 12:00 PM

    I have a mower exactly like the one in the very first pic of the site , any ideals what it’s worth

    Reply
  10. John Tonzola says

    November 7, 2017 at 6:55 PM

    I have a 16” push reel mower. It has PM 8 on one wheel and # 88 on the other. These are spokked wheels not solid faced. They have Codwrll and Newburgh, NY. It has a double steel handle. Would like to know the age of this mower

    Reply
  11. L J Parker says

    May 31, 2018 at 6:42 PM

    Olmsted is the correct spelling
    L J Parker Lake Park Historical Society
    The link to the roller chain machine is not the one.

    Reply
  12. Oliver Freels says

    November 24, 2020 at 5:26 AM

    The first reel mower to receive commercial, widespread success in the United States was created in 1870 by Elwood McGuire of Richmond, Indiana. McGuire’s model was a more lightweight, easier to push mower with fewer moving parts – making it an instant hit in the United States and beyond. By 1885, America was manufacturing over 50,000 lawn mowers per year and providing them to every country.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Newburgh NY - Real Estate & History Lessons says:
    November 7, 2013 at 8:02 AM

    […] I learned from a tenant that Newburgh was quite significant in the original manufacturing of the lawn mower in the US. Who said selling real estate was […]

    Reply
  2. The price of beauty: birds, feathers, eradication and conservation (Part 2) says:
    January 30, 2016 at 7:14 AM

    […] and young girls in feather hats (top image, see Part 1). Locally, the Newburgh manufacturers of Chadborn & Coldwell lawn mowers featured many women in their advertisements, one of which is fashionably dressed while pushing an […]

    Reply
  3. The price of beauty (Part 1) – redlegagenda says:
    January 31, 2016 at 9:10 AM

    […] and young girls in feather hats (top image, see Part 1). Locally, the Newburgh manufacturers of Chadborn & Coldwell lawn mowers featured many women in their advertisements, one of which is fashionably dressed while pushing an […]

    Reply

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