Willimantic’s Lewiston Avenue was named after Joseph A. Lewis (1829-1900) who became Willimantic's leading market gardener. He was also a forceful figure in the  Prohibitionist party, and was very  active in the Willimantic local politics. He managed the Lewis Nursery for almost 42 years, and saw it grow from a small nine-acre plot, to over 100 acres along Jackson Street in the northern part of the city. Lewis‘ extensive business was also known as  the City Market Gardens. In the late 19th century Willimantic was renowned for its beautiful tree-lined avenues and streets, particularly Iackson Street that was lined with tall, handsome maple trees. Joseph Lewis had raised all these trees from seed. In the mid 19th century, travelers heading northwards out of Willimantic, into Mansfield,  along Iackson Street would pass several farms  located on their right. Immediately to the left was  the farm of Eli Hewitt, who gave his name to        Hewitt Street.On the right were the Capen estates, the Freeman farm, and  then the nursery and farms of Ioseph A. Lewis. The Lewis farm began at Terry Avenue. The Lewis nurseries frontage continued south down Iackson Street to Ash Street.  Early in life, Lewis’ had found his first love to be horticulture, and he found employment as a nurseryman in Providence, and then in horticultural nurseries  in Springfield and in Dighton, Massachusetts.  In 1858 he began looking for an opportunity to begin his own nursery. Lewis and his brother-in-law, Ioseph Frye, purchased an original tract of nine acres of land on Iackson Street, from Martin Harris, in the rapidly expanding borough of Willimantic. Lewis and Frye immediately began growing vegetables and trees on the fertile land just north of the borough. In 1861 Lewis erected a fine house at the nursery, and moved in with his family in April 1862. Lewis and Frye first concentrated on raising trees from seed, and growing fruit. But the partners soon became experts in raising tomatoes. Lewis eventually had over 70 acres under cultivation, growing and canning for the wholesale trade. He erected a cannery on North Street in 1892, and began canning his fruits, berries and other vegetables. Local Farmers used the cannery to can their produce. In one season alone, Lewis canned 40,000 bushels of apples. Unfortunately, the cannery was destroyed by fire on August 21, 1895. The headline in the next day’s Chronicle read, “KETCHUP AFLAME : J.A. Lewis Cannery burned to the ground”. In colorful language the story said, “The peacefulness and quietude attendant upon a (sleeping) community had commenced to steal over the city last night when the brazen clang of the big bell on Bank Street rent the still night air into shreds”. People from all over town were awakened and since the flames shooting into the air could be seen for quite a distance in the Hill Section, a large crown began heading toward the burning cannery “on upper North Street”. The alarm had been rung in by Irwin Morse from Bugbee’s store on Jackson Street at 9:45 PM and the Chronicle noted that Morse had to break the store’s window glass to reach the alarm box key which had been hanging inside the window since the store was closed for the night. The fire had broken out in the cannery’s boiler room and flames rapidly consumed the building and its contents. Because of the cannery’s distance from the fire companies’ quarters, the run to the fire was “long and fatiguing” and the cannery was in ruins even as the first streams of water were put on the fire. The Montgomery Fire Company was the first on the scene. The Alert and Excelsior companies reached the scene a bit later due to trouble locating the fire and having to run down to Jackson Street, then up Spruce Street to North Street. The burning of the cannery threw a number of people out of work, and Lewis then sent his produce to a cannery in Colchester. Nevertheless, the Lewis nurseries regularly employed 75 people, and thanks to Willimantic‘s rail links, Lewis‘ canned fruits and  vegetables were transported and sold across New England. At their height, the nurseries had 100 acres of land under cultivation, with 18,000 feet under glass. Lewis‘  strawberries and pickles were also particularly popular. Lewis died in  March,1900, after a short illness. He left the entire business in the hands of his assistant, Clark Olney Terry, who carried on the J. Lewis vegetable and fruit farm until his own death in 1916.

The Lewis Cannery on North Street