Alexander Livingston's Tomato Legacy
Brief History of Improving Tomatoes in Reynoldsburg Ohio
Jun 2, 2009
Alexander Livingston is long remembered for his contribution to the improvement of growing vegetable crops, especially the tomato. Livingston lived in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, most of his life, between 1821 and 1898. There he married and he and his wife raised a family, while Livingston expanded his interest in botany taking him from seed gardener to developer.
Wild Tomato Plants
Livingston is credited with stabilizing and refining the wild strain of the tomato plant. By the 1840s and 1850s the tomato had developed into an important cash crop. There was a need to make them useful for home gardens and mass agricultural growing.
The tomato is a subtropical perennial treated as an annual and often referred to as a warm season crop. Lycopersicon esculentum is the botanical name for tomato and is part of the Solanaceae family. Although the tomato is a fruit, for traditional, culinary, and economic reasons tomatoes are classified as a vegetable in the United States.
Later, Alexander Livingston became known as “the man who developed the tomato.” In the United States, the tomato is one of the most popular home garden vegetables.
His many varieties strongly impacted the types of tomato plants now available for growing in today’s kitchen garden.
Early Livingston Tomato Varieties
Livingston developed tomato plants for specific purposes and high quality that would have high quantity yields. They were popular because they were useful for agricultural growing and everyday gardening use, could be grown in a wide selection of climates and soil conditions.
The Paragon Tomato was Livingston’s first tomato variety. The tomato came out in 1870, described as having blood red fruit and heavy foliage.
Commercial canning of tomatoes became very popular. Livingston’s Favorite was a firm red meaty tomato in 1883. The purple tomato Beauty called “the crown jewel of them all” in 1886 would grow fruit right up until dying at the first frost.
In 1887, the Potato Leaf Tomato variety came out, targeted for growers farming in heavy clay soil. Although Livingston’s work was most notable for the many kinds of tomatoes it produced, he worked to improve corn and cabbage, too.
Livingston’s Family in Reynoldsburg Ohio
Alexander Livingston was called a family man and community volunteer in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Built in 1865, the Livingston House still stands as a Victorian clapboard house, now turned city park. Alexander and Matilda raised 10 children. Livingston taught Sunday school at the Ohio Penitentiary and used his seed wagon, with its false bottom to provide a link in the Underground Railroad.
Reynoldsburg Birthplace of the Tomato
Alexander Livingston left two modern legacies from his days in Reynoldsburg. The Livingston Seed Company was founded in 1850. Today, it is still a thriving seed company in Columbus, Ohio.
The Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival is held to celebrate his success. The festival began in 1965, and is an annual community event at Huber Park.
Readers interested in recent tomato plants can find more information here about growing salsa tomato and pepper plants.
Reference:
Parkinson, Cornelia M. Alex Livingston The Tomato Man and His Times. Historical Tales Ink, October, 1981 and revised edition March, 1996.
Permission received for all photos used in this article.
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