30
THE DAVEY BULLETIN
|
November/December 2018
TARRYTOWN
WAS HEART OF
EARLY DAVEY EAST
OPERATIONS
John Davey's famous book "The Tree
Doctor" was just six years old. Davey
Tree had barely enough employees
to work simultaneously on a few
large estates. And Martin L. Davey,
Sr., served as the company's chief
salesman, bookkeeper, payroll clerk,
equipment manager, trainer and
travel agent for Davey Tree's fledgling
eastern operations.
It was 1907, and a small office in
Tarrytown, New York, hummed with
activity as Davey crews cared for the
expansive properties of some of the
world's wealthiest families along the
shores of the Hudson River.
Martin hustled about the Hudson
Valley first on foot and later from
behind the wheel of a Maxwell
Runabout, a two-cylinder car that
looked more like a horse buggy with
oil lamps for headlights. Though in
constant need of repair, the car's
mobility allowed Martin to more than
double his sales efforts. He did this
by reconnoitering on huge estates,
chatting up landscape gardeners and
caretakers about the habits of the
owner, whom Martin would later
approach with his informed sales
pitch about their need for tree care.
In these early days, Davey's client list
included William Rockefeller and John
Archbold, founders of Standard Oil.
Through lucrative estate work, Martin
grew the business so quickly that year
he needed to create the company's
first salesman's position.
"I bought him a motorcycle so he
could cover his part of the territory
faster, and he did a very satisfactory
job," Martin said. "That gave me the
idea that it might be possible to build
Above: A Davey employee on an early
1900s Pope motorcycle, likely similar to the
kind used by a Davey salesman in Tarrytown,
New York, in 1907.
Left: Martin L. Davey, Sr., at the wheel of
a Maxwell Runabout outside the Tarrytown,
New York, office in 1907.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
a sales staff, and expand the field force
in proportion. This was the beginning
of what might be called the real Davey
organization, because up to that time
our business had been highly personal."
In Tarrytown, Martin operated a
resident school in which he could
give to the employees, who had been
trained in the practical work, the
necessary scientific education to make
them not only scientific experts, but
to give them more of a professional
attitude toward tree surgery. To do
so, Martin corresponded with various
educational institutions, and he was
able to hire professors to teach
botany, pathology and entomology.
He selected one of the best of his
own employees to teach the theory
and practice of tree surgery.
That small office in New York remained
a hub of activity until Martin decided
in 1908 to officially establish the
company headquarters in Kent, Ohio.
