J. H. Hale Office (1910)

Instead of im”peach”ment, today’s building relates to the “peach king” of Glastonbury, J. H. Hale. I’ve mentioned him before in two posts. One was about the home of his grandfather, Ebenezer Hale, at 1378 Main Street and the other was about the home that J. H. Hale built at 1420 Main Street in 1911. At the Hale farm, John Howard Hale (1853-1917) and his brother George started a peach orchard where John H. developed a hardy type of peach that could endure the New England climate. The business soon grew to a national scale, with orchards in Glastonbury and Georgia. As described in Men of Mark in Connecticut (1906):

He was the first American orchardist to sort, grade, and pack fruit, and label and guarantee it according to its grade. He was the first in America to use trolley transportation in the fruit business, and is one of the very few Americans who ship peaches to Europe. He is fittingly called the “Father of Peach Culture in New England.”

Adjacent to Hale’s mansion is the colonial revival-style building at 1404 Main Street, which served as the farm’s office. As it is not indicated on a 1909 map of the Hale Farm, it was most likely built c. 1910, around the same time as the mansion. By 1920, a roadside stand in front of the building sold J. H. Hale peaches. The office later became a private residence. Among its first occupants were J. H. Hale’s grandson, John Hale, and his wife Alice.