Early Irish Quakers who settled the village of New Garden named it for a town in Ireland. Much of the county's celebrated mushroom industry is in New Garden. The industry goes back to the early Irish Quaker settlers who were farmers and found the space under their greenhouse benches ideal for growing mushrooms. Thirty years ago there were more than 300 mushroom growers and farms and although there are less than 100 growers today they're bigger operations.
Mushroom farming is still very big business here.
Housing is booming in this area. Hartefeld, with plans for more than 300 houses, and Somerset Lake, another large development with 400 houses and a man-made lake, plus several smaller developments are rapidly changing the landscape. Just a few years back there were about 1,100 residences in the township. Now there are about 1,900. Much of New Garden's housing growth is in the southern end.