Allendale Strawberry Fields

During the early 1800s, the “Allendale” area was full of strawberry fields. For more than 50 years, Bergen county was filled with strawberries during June which is the best time for growing. The opening of the Erie Railroad only expanded the strawberry markets. In 1846, more than 400,000 baskets of strawberries were shipped out of Bergen County on the first Erie fruit trains. These strawberries were shipped to Newark, Patterson, and New York City. Strawberries became so popular that 1.5 million baskets of strawberries on 1,100 wagons traveled on Franklin Turnpike in the last week of June 1958. Strawberry pickers came from all around to be paid 1 cent per ½ pint basket plus housing. By 1859, the railroad began to bring its first commuters to the area. New Yorkers looking for a healthy country life began to settle in the Allendale area and its neighboring towns. The 1870s became the beginning of the end of the strawberry frenzy in the Allendale era. Farmers began to realize that their farmland could bring them more money when sold as building sites than it did when planted with crops. Some wealthy city people established summer homes here, and others came to vacation. By the 1880′s, Allendale gained a reputation as the “Newport of Bergen County.” By 1900, there were no more strawberry farms in Allendale. Today the Strawberry Fields have been turned into houses for new residents of Alendale.