Montclair Event: Early 20th Century Women-Owned Floral Business

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the Montclair History Center. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

The Montclair History Center has received a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, supporting the virtual History at Home program series. History at Home launched at the height of the pandemic and continues to bring rich content from local scholars and historians to the public through live zoom presentations. Funding enables the program series to remain free for the public.

History at Home programs will be offered once a month, held live on zoom at 7 pm, and recorded to then be placed onto our YouTube channel for repeat viewing (@montclairhistorycenter). Registration for the live presentations are required. Visit www.montclairhistory.org/all-e... to locate all presentations and registration links. Programs will be announced seasonally. The first line up of History at Home programs include:

Next Up in the Series: History at Home: An Early 20th Century Women Owned Floral Business

• Thursday, March 14th at 7 pm (virtual on Zoom)

Will Willams will bring awareness to the archaeological dig conducted on the Montclair History Center grounds in July 2022. The MHC sits on what was a 300-acre tract of land – initially occupied by the Munsee Lenape – and later owned by Jasper Crane (1605-1681) in the 17th century. It is now the site of the Crane House & Historic YWCA, Clark, and Nathaniel Crane houses. Missing from the public record is the history of the Rose’s, a family of florists who operated a greenhouse and floral business on the site of the Crane House & Historic YWCA from about 1899 to the mid-1930s. Will will discuss the important anthropological subject of gender and equality for women in the early decades of the 20th century. The florist shop and greenhouse was a woman-owned business run by Alice G. Rose. Her business ownership resisted the domestic roles women were expected to follow during this time.

Will Williams is a Ph.D. archeology student at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York city and alumnus of Montclair State University. In July 2022, he and other student and volunteer archaeologists, under the leadership of MSU’s Dr. Chris Matthews, conducted excavations at the Montclair History Center’s 108/110 Orange Road campus.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.

The Montclair History Center, formerly the Montclair Historical Society, is an independent not-for-profit organization that has been dedicated to preserving, sharing, and educating others about Montclair’s history since 1965. For additional information, please visit the website www.montclairhistory.org or contact the Montclair History Center at 973-744-1796 or mail@montclairhistory.org.

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