Home > Metalwork > The Montgomery Company Hadley Rose Medal

During the first half of the 20th century, The Montgomery Company in Hadley, MA, was one of the biggest and most celebrated commercial growers of roses in the United States and developed many award-winning roses and gardenias. The company owned and operated several large greenhouses and for many years was the major taxpayer and employer in Hadley. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS) awarded this medal to the Montgomery Company for the Hadley Rose in 1914, and this and other medals were donated to the Hadley Historical Society by Montgomery family descendants in 2024.

The medal was originally designed by Francis Napoleon Mitchell in 1848 for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The obverse of the medal depicts the goddesses Pomona and Ceres, one standing and one seated, holding grapes and flowers. Around the rim on the reverse is “MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY” with garlands. Shields of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are on the bottom. In the center is space for the recipient’s name and date of the award. This design was originally used for gold medals and later for silver medals awarded for eminent horticultural accomplishments or services. It is not known where the MHS produced the Hadley Rose medal.

In 1909, the Montgomery family of Natick, MA, purchased 50 acres of land in Hadley and constructed eight 500-foot-long greenhouses for the production of roses. Alexander Montgomery and his sons Alexander William and Robert owned and operated the company. The elder Alexander was born in Scotland, where he worked as a gardener on large estates. After immigrating to the United States in the late 19th century, he became the manager of the Waban Rose Conservatory in Natick.

Alexander’s son, Alexander William, graduated from Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts) in 1898 and joined his father at Waban Rose. The younger Alexander was an expert on rose grafting and a nationally known rosarian and rose hybridizer.

He became the general manager of the Montgomery Company while his father was the company president and Robert, a graduate of MIT, was the company treasurer. Many of the workers at the greenhouses in the first half of the 20th century were Polish immigrants and their descendants from Hadley and nearby towns.

The firm’s roses were marketed mainly in the Boston Flower Exchange and through wholesalers in Montreal, New York State, Quebec City, and directly to retail florists throughout New England.