Edward Staniford Rogers began hybridizing American and European grapes in 1851, launching an era of “enthusiasm and speculation” for American grape growers. The street ran into the city’s center, near the wharves of Salem Harbor, then one of the busiest ports on the Atlantic seaboard. Rogers came from a prosperous mercantile and shipping family, and in 1826, the year Rogers was born, Essex Street was one of Salem’s wealthiest residential neighborhoods. Rogers focused on grapes, and he did his work in his half-acre backyard at 376 Essex Street, in Salem, Massachusetts. In the case of fruit breeders like Edward Staniford Rogers, even work conducted at a relatively small scale had the potential to spread nationally, shaping breeding efforts into the present. In the mid-nineteenth century, eastern Massachusetts was a hub for American horticultural talent, including writers and nursery owners.
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