page_title: Briarcliff Farms
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Briarcliff Farms / History
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an image of Briarcliff Farm, James Stillman's property in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
context_page_description: Briarcliff Farms was a farm established in 1890 by Walter William Law in Briarcliff Manor, a village in Westchester County, New York. One of several enterprises established by Law at the turn of the 20th century, the farm was known for its milk, butter, and cream and also produced other dairy products, American Beauty roses, bottled water, and print media. At its height, the farm was one of the largest dairy operations in the Northeastern United States, operating about 8,000 acres with over 1,000 Jersey cattle. In 1907, the farm moved to Pine Plains in New York's Dutchess County, and it was purchased by New York banker Oakleigh Thorne in 1918, who developed it into an Angus cattle farm. After Thorne's death in 1948, the farm changed hands several times; in 1968 it became Stockbriar Farm, a beef feeding operation. Stockbriar sold the farmland to its current owners in 1979.
  The farm combined a practical American business model with the concept of a European country seat or manor, with cows being milked constantly, and with milk promptly chilled and bottled within five minutes, and shipped to stores in New York City each night.
context_section_description: James Stillman owned a small farm on Pleasantville Road since at least 1886. It was known as Briarcliff Farm after John David Ogilby's estate, Brier Cliff (itself named after Ogilby's family home in Ireland). In 1887 Stillman had a display at the Great Dairy and Cattle Show in New York City's Madison Square Garden, where he demonstrated setting milk, churning cream and making butter. In 1890, Walter Law began purchasing property in the present-day village of Briarcliff Manor as part of his desire for rest and recreation. That year, Law paid James Stillman $35,000 ($995,900 in 2019) for his 236-acre (96 ha) farm and renamed it Briarcliff Farms. In 1893, The New York Times reported that the 14th Duke of Veragua (a livestock farmer) and a large party visited the farm on the afternoon of June 16; at that time, the farm had about 330 cattle and 100 sheep. The party went from New York to Scarborough, proceeding by carriage to Briarcliff, and visited the farm's poultry yard, hennery and stables. After observing the farm's heifers and stallions, they went to the creamery to taste Briarcliff butter. The guests went to Law's Yonkers home, Hillcrest, for dinner before returning to New York. After the visit, the duke had said "Well, this is a perfect place. I am delighted with what I have seen."
  In 1898 Law retired from the vice-presidency of W. & J. Sloane, moved with his family to the area and began devoting his time to agriculture. He rapidly added to his holdings, buying about forty parcels in less than ten years; by 1900, Law owned more than 5,000 acres (8 sq mi) of Westchester County and was its largest individual landholder. Some previous owners became tenant farmers; Law received half of the hay and straw from a 160-acre (60 ha) farm formerly owned by Jesse Bishop, and one-third of everything else. Law and Briarcliff Farms initially deepened the Pocantico River for 2 miles (3 km), taking out rifts so the stream would flow and adjacent swamps would drain. Workers also cut rock and took out trees lining the swamps to reclaim land for farming.
  Law found the soil poor, since it had been farmed for a half-century. The fields were bare, and cows gave poor-quality milk: "I had to begin at the bottom and repair the waste of fifty years." He improved the soil's fertility by arranging for manure from New York City streets and stables to be regularly brought to his farm; for four years, twenty carloads of manure a week were spread on the land. As a result, the farm's hay yield increased from two to five tons. Law also decided to improve the area's roads, giving them a base layer of large, closely packed stones and layers of top gravel. He developed his herd; at first the farm had weak cattle (many afflicted with tuberculosis) and "ordinary milk", but after Law's development the farm had strong cattle, healthy calves and an abundance of rich milk. Law hired Leonard Pearson (a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Pennsylvania) to check each cow every six months for tuberculosis and other diseases, exceeding New York City Board of Health standards.
  Although Law had little knowledge or experience of farming at first, he had enough money to reach his goal of maximizing his dairy farm's quality and output. Law's farm had 500 workers tending cattle, pigs, chickens, Thoroughbred horses, pheasants, peacocks and sheep at its peak. In 1900, when the US government asked Briarcliff Farms to exhibit its milk, butter and cream at Paris' Exposition Universelle, the farm submitted raw, pasteurized, and sterilized milk; however, according to the French, "There is no use sending these, for your fresh milk keeps fresh". The farm contributed to the USDA Bureau of Animal Industry and the New York State Commission to the Paris Exhibition's joint exhibit, winning gold medals for its milk, cream, and butter and a silver medal for social benefit or economy. Concerned that the farm's milk had preservatives, French authorities requested an affidavit that no chemicals were added. Photographs by the US government of Briarcliff Farms' barns, farmlan
caption: Illustration of James Stillman's Briarcliff Farm around 1886
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