Lord & Burnham Co. records

The Lord & Burnham Company originated when Frederick Lord began building greenhouses as a sideline to his carpentry business in Buffalo, New York in 1849. He moved to Syracuse in 1854 and in 1856 he established Lord's Horticultural Manufacturing Company. In 1870 Lord moved his operation to Irvington on Hudson in order to be closer to his major clients, the estate owners in the lower Hudson Valley. Two years later, his son-in-law William Addison Burnham, became a business partner by providing capital and the company adopted the name Lord and Burnham.

The greenhouse industry needed to provide dependable, adjustable and evenly distributed heat to large areas. The company experimented with several boiler types and in 1873 they put their first boiler on the market. One of the most successful, a cast iron sectional model proved to be more efficient than any other available although it did have some faults and repairs were difficult and costly. The second design, almost square in shape and fitted with brass tubes, was introduced in 1878. Later, a sectional boiler was introduced with great success, opening up a new avenue of marketing for the firm--the residential heating market.

After the Civil War the development of greenhouses for commercial purposes became more evident throughout the United States. Plants and flowers became increasingly popular for social occasions such as funerals, weddings and parties and Victorian interiors called for houseplants such as palms and ferns. Private greenhouses became a common accessory to many estates, providing readily available fresh fruits and flowers as well as a place for entertaining for the social, financial and political elite. Soon, municipalities added to the demand for greenhouse and conservatory structures. Public parks and gardens sought to build greenhouses for public and educational use.

The company successfully re-invented themselves with new ideas and innovations. The industrial revolution brought on advances in the production of materials such as iron, glass and heating methods. Jay Gould had purchased the Lyndhurst estate, in Tarrytown from the Merritt family in 1870's. When the large greenhouse, built of wood burned down, Gould commissioned L&B to rebuild. The company was the first to introduce small sash bars with supporting iron frames rather than wooden rafters in the rebuilding. Lord and Burnham also pioneered the use of ground glass in the windows. Panes of glass could be made larger to fit a larger surface. These fundamental changes in material allowed more light to reach the growing plants.

The Hitchings Company, established in 1844, specialized in the manufacture of greenhouse components such as ventilating apparatus and heating systems, and began manufacturing greenhouse structures in 1888. In 1905, Lord and Burnham merged with Hitchings & Co. and the Pierson-Sefton Co. to form the Burnham-Pierson-Sefton Corporation. By 1906, realizing that the public preferred to do business with the original companies, they reverted back to the old names of Lord & Burnham, Hitchings and Co. and the Pierson U-Bar Co., but remained incorporated. The company continued to acquire other greenhouse companies, including the William Lutton Co. of Jersey City.

In 1911, the company constructed a greenhouse manufacturing plant in Des Plaines, Illinois and by 1914, in order to produce greenhouses for the Canadian market, Lord and Burnham Limited in St. Catherine's Ontario, was established. In 1917 the company bought the Geneva boiler Works and soon produced and sold boilers at both the Irvington and Elizabeth, N.J. (Hitchings) plants. By 1919 the Burnham Boiler Co. was established to take over the boiler business from Lord & Burnham Co. and Hitchings.

The firm maintained a program of continuous research and development of product for their heating and greenhouse products for both home and industry. They experimented with the use of aluminum as a suitable material for greenhouse construction and were one of the first to employ composite construction of aluminum and steel. During both world wars, the firm converted most of its facilities to the production of critical military equipment. Production included pontoon bridges, hand grenades and assault boats. By 1946 the corporate structure was re-organized and all major Burnham subsidiaries were consolidated to form the Burnham Corporation. In 1987 the corporation dissolved. Shortly thereafter the collection was transferred to The New York Botanical Garden.