Tom Gagliano Recalls The Road to Preserving Holmdel's Rural Character

In his presentation last night at the Holmdel Historical Society, Holmdel's former resident and Township Attorney S. Thomas Gagliano shared memories of the town's more rural days. 

In the 1960s, when the population was less than a third of what it is today and housing lots were one-acre, the township residents enjoyed low taxes and healthy employment, said Gagliano. Along the major roads, there were industries like Bell Labs, Lilly Tulip, Mattel Toys, Triangle, Prupac, Ranger and E.E. Cruz. 

But there were a lot of farms, and it was still a place where your car could very well get stuck behind a slow-moving tractor on the roads, where modest farm stands beckoned with home-grown tomatoes in straw lined bins, and -- as Gagliano remembered complaints aired in public meetings --  Casola Farms set off a 5 a.m. shotgun blast every morning to scare birds off the cornfields.

Gagliano, who also served as a county surrogate and later state senator, was township attorney from 1966-1989. He told stories about being part of the team that preserved properties like Bayonet Farm for the public (at $7,000 an acre!) and Marlu Farms, from Brookdale to Longbridge Road, under the Green Acres program. 

For fun, he asked who remembered the Farm Labor Camp at Catbird Alley. (See video)

And he circulated a list of Holmdel farms in the 1960s, asking for shout-outs on who he missed.  The group came up with about 14 more names, which we have pencilled into Gagliano's list.  "Any others?" he asked

Holmdel Patch readers, this is your challenge! 

Holmdel Farms and Farmers of the 1960s

Ackerson

French

LePre

Porter

Allocco

Friedauer

Lucarelli

Potter

Ambrosino

Genovese

Marlu

Purdy

Artelli

Greco

Mason

Rue

Bailey

Harding

McCampbell

Thorne

Bennet

Hazienda

Menosky

Tricorn

Callan

Hendrickson

Menzel

Twitchell

Casola

Holmes

Mocci

Urbanski

Cerlione

Hop Brook

Molzon

Walnut

Cowan

Infante

Neason

West

DePalma

Kanefer

Ondrush

Willie

Flemer

Lawrence

Pappas