Van Houten Fields and Ralph Borsodi
by John Scott
In 1937, a group of people from Nyack and vicinity entered into discussions with Ralph Borsodi of Suffern, nationally known author, economist and philosopher, regarding his back-to-the-land decentralization experiments in providing self-sufficient homesteads within commuting distances of cities. The 106-acre Van Houten farm had become available at West Nyack, and they wished to secure support of Borsodi’s Independence Foundation and the School of Living, which had earlier financed a small association of homeowners at Bayard Lane, Suffern.
The old Dutch farm was part of the original Oblenis 800-acre tract established in 1732 on lots 11 and 12 of the Kakiat Patent in the area of present West Nyack. John Van Houten purchased the land in 1837 and built the three-story brick building at present 73 Sickeltown Road on the site of the original Oblenis farmhouse.
An organizational meeting with principals of the Independence Foundation was held on November 30, 1937 at the Borsodi homestead, “Dogwoods,” on DeBaun Avenue, Suffern for the purpose of organizing the Van Houten Fields Association as a self-administering body of homeowners. Ralph Borsodi, Sr. called the meeting to order and on motion was elected chairman of the committee. Ralph Borsodi, Jr. was appointed secretary. Five trustees were duly elected: Ralph Borsodi, Jr., Homer T. Bogle, Wharton Clay, W. S. Fitz Randolph and Chauncey D. Stillman, a philanthropic financier. Mrs. Wharton Clay was elected as community manager. Homer T. Bogle, field manager, submitted the preliminary plan of the proposed development prepared by C. Earl Morrow. It was generally approved, subject to any corrections that a definite survey would show to be necessary.
One- and two-acre sites were to be made available for homesteads in a cooperative community. Each homeowner would lease the acquired land from the Foundation and receive an indenture of a 99- year lease. One large tract was set aside as a forest playground and another, with a spring-fed pond, for water sports, tennis courts, nature gardens and playgrounds. The old Van Houten brick farmhouse was intended as a community meeting place to develop the cultural and social life of the settlement. For years it served as temporary apartments for families during construction of their new homes.
Ralph Borsodi began his new style of country living, later labeled as “agrarianism for commuters,” in 1919, he, his wife Myrtle Mae Simpson and two small sons moved from New York City and rented a small unimproved farmhouse on seven acres near Suffern. While Bor-sodi commuted to work in the City, they began their initial family experiments.
With little capital and a small income, they remodeled their first tiny building, learning the use of necessary tools, and began raising fruits and vegetables. Acquiring a goat, cow and chickens, they tested their theories and dreams of selfsubsistence and economic freedom while enjoying the beauty of nature.
In 1924, they selected a larger 18-acre site off present DeBaun Avenue in Suffern to design and build the homestead they really wanted. Combining their own amateur labor with the skilled labor of local workmen, they cleared the land, gathered native fieldstone and built the west wing of the house to live in while completing the rest. Construction was based on Ernest Flagg’s experiments in building attractive, economical, sturdy houses made with a concrete slab and available fieldstones for walls.
In a period of 10 years, they constructed an enclave of five buildings, including a barn and their own homestead, “Dogwoods,” which contained a workshop for weaving, a laundry, billiard room, printing plant and an outdoor swimming pool. Here they first experimented with a theory called the School of Living that would later lead to classes in self-sufficiency. Borsodi had written several books on economics, but This Ugly Civilization, published in 1929, brought him national attention.
To read the rest of the article, visit our archived issue of South of the Mountains : Vol. 31, No. 4 (1987) https://www.hrvh.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/hsrc/id/2817/show/2795/rec/9
