Garden Way Publishing Company Records

1940's - Ed and Carolyn Robinson write The Have-more Plan. It is published by Norton Publishing, and distributed by The Country Bookstore.

1960 - Dick Denholtz joins Norton Publishing as Advertising Manager

1966 - Lyman Wood serves as consultant to Watco Machine Products, Troy, NY

1967 - PMA purchases a 62% interest in Watco

1967 - Dean Leith Jr. joins the Troy operation, is made an equal partner in PMA and Watco

1968 - Watco becomes Garden Way Manufacturing

1970 - Garden Way Research established.

1971 - Gardens For All established.

1973 - Garden Way Living Center opened in Burlington, Vermont.

1976 - Garden Way Country Kitchen Catalog established.

1976 - Precision Marketing Associates, Inc. becomes Garden Way Associates, Inc.

1978 - All Garden Way companies combine under the name Garden Way, Inc.

1982 - Corporate coup in Charlotte. Wood ousted, new Board of Directors formed. Corporate Headquarters moved to Troy, New York.

In the early forties, during World War II, a couple by the name of Ed and Carolyn Robinson grew tired of the frantic scramble of urban life. They bought some land in Connecticut, and moved to the country. Lyman P. Wood, a friend of the Robinson's shared their interest is self-sufficient living. He suggested that many unhappy urbanites would also be interested in the Robinson's rural experiences. As a result, Ed and Carol wrote their book: The Have-more Plan - A Little Land, A Lot of Living.

This title was published by the Norton Publishing Co., of Darien, CT, a company owned by Wood and two partners, Wally Boren and C. Eric Lundberg. To market the book, Wood, Robinson, and a third man, John Keane, set up the Country Bookstore a mail-order house featuring self-sufficiency books and pamphlets. Wood had been accurate in his assessment of the book's marketing potential, as public response was instantaneous and favorable.

Wood moved to Charlotte, VT, in 1951, but he continued to direct his business in Connecticut. In 1960, Dick Denholtz was hired as Advertising Manager of the Noroton Publishing Co. In 1966, Noroton formed an in-house advertising agency, called Precision Marketing Associates, Inc. (PMA). Wood, Denholtz, Keane, and Lundberg became equal partners and corporate officers in this new company.

The Garden Way Publishing Co. was also formed in 1966, in Charlotte, by the same four partners. The "Garden Way" name was coined when this venture published its first title: The Garden Way to Health, Happiness, and Profit, by John Gourlie. Today there are several hundred titles in the Garden Way line, all promoting the Garden Way philosophy of natural self-sufficiency. In the early years, the Garden Way Publishing's annual Book Catalog advertised its own titles as well as titles put out by other publishers, providing that these "outside" titles dealt with suitable Garden Way subjects, and were in Garden Way's estimation, the "best" books on the subjects in question. Around 1975, Garden Way Publishing began carrying only its own titles in the Catalog, which is now issued twice a year.

In addition to pursuing his publishing interests in the 1960's, Wood also served as a consultant to Watco Machine Products of Troy, N.Y, manufacturers of garden tillers. Wood knew that that company was in financial trouble. He became interested in the possibility of Precision Marketing Associates, Inc. gaining control of Watco, and attempting to market the tillers through the mail. The partners at Precision Marketing Associates, Inc. were initially unenthusiastic about this proposition, but Wood provided each of them with a 10,000 bonus from Noroton Publishing, which enabled Precision Marketing Associates, Inc., as a team, to purchase a 62% controlling interest in Watco.

Shortly after this transaction, Dean Leith Jr. joined the team, moving from Connecticut to Troy, in order to help revitalize Watco. In return for his commitment and enthusiasm, the four original members made Leith an equal partner in both Precision Marketing Associates, Inc. and Watco.

These five men were joined by three other shareholders, as a result of the Watco acquisition. They were: George Done, inventor of the "rear-end" Troy-Bilt tiller; Carl Grimm, who owns most of the real estate on which Watco was located; and Pete Maraj, manager and foreman of the plant.

These partners formed a number of Garden Way companies over the years. In 1968, Watco became Garden Way Manufacturing, and Precision Marketing Associates, Inc. was changed to Garden Way Associates, Inc. in 1976.

In the early 1970's, Garden Way Research was established in Charlotte, where it manufactures the famous two-wheeled garden carts, cider presses, loading ramps, and work benches.

Garden Way Living Center, a retail and service outlet, which opened in Burlington, VT in 1973 sells Garden Way and other products for home and garden use. Garden Way has similar retail outlets in several other cities, including Atlanta and Seattle. The most recent Living Center was opened in April of 1982, in Sacramento, California.

Gardens for All, (established in 1971), which operates out of Shelburne, VT, is a non-profit educational foundation that Garden Way helped found in order to promulgate community gardening throughout the United States.

The Garden Way Country Kitchen Catalog, situated in Charlotte, began business in 1976. It is a catalog operation which sells hard-to-find quality kitchen tools, primarily centered around food-preserving items.

In 1978, these various Garden Way companies were combined under the name of Garden Way, Inc., each affiliate becoming a division of the parent company. Wood retained actual day-to-day control of operations, particularly in marketing.

On January 28, 1982, this control was wrested from Wood's grasp, when he and more than 20 top Garden Way, Inc. employees in Vermont were ousted from their jobs in a corporate coup that moved control of the company from Wood and the Vermont officers to a generally Troy-orientated list of employees.



Sources: Gillmor, Dan. "Lightning Shakeup at Garden Way a Bitter Coup." Barre Times-Argus, Four-part series of articles, February 21, 22, 23, 24, 1982

Hicks, John. "Garden Way Inc.... Its History, Progress, Techniques," Direct Marketing Magazine, November, 1978. p. 74-106

Please note: Both of these sources can be found, in their entirety, in the "Inventory" folder of this collection, (carton 1, folder 1).