The name Leslie Applegate is known by just about every FFA member in America. In case you are not familiar with that name, he was the first president of the national Future Farmers of America, being elected to that position in 1928. Have you ever wondered who he was and what happened to him after his year of service as national president?
This week the Friday Footnote starts exploring agricultural education and the FFA in New Jersey. What better way to start this series of Footnotes with an article about Leslie Applegate? Using this information, agriculture teachers can tell their students more about Leslie Applegate than just being a name in the FFA manual.
The Story Begins
The Leslie Applegate story begins in 1908 when Charles and Carrie Applegate bought 130 acres of land near Freehold, New Jersey. Apples were being grown on nearby farms, so Charles began growing apples. During this era, apples were a thriving business. Soon Charles was buying additional acreage. When Charles died in 1929 the family had 500 acres of apples.
But apples were not the only crop raised by Charles and Carrie. They had two sons (C. Richard and Leslie) and a daughter (Ruth). Leslie was born on October 20, 1911. Two years after Leslie was born he was entered in a “best baby” contest at the Monmouth County Fair and placed third in the 12-24 month old category with a score of 94.05 percent [Curator’s Note: don’t ask me how scores were determined but a nurse and doctor were involved).
Figure 1. The New Jersey home of Leslie Applegate in 1928. Image from the FFA Archives at IUPUI.
Leslie attended Freehold High School and took agriculture classes. Leslie’s farming program consisted of 10 acres of apples he rented from his father and working for his father. He also had an acre of corn and ten hives of bees (Atlantic City Daily Press, November 19, 1928).
In 1927 Leslie exhibited apples at the Monmouth County Agricultural Exhibition. In the five best specimen collection of apples Leslie placed first in four categories – Stayman, Winesap, Imperial and Roman Beauty (Asbury Park Press, November 18, 1927)
Leslie had an interest in the outdoors and was active in YMCA camping activities. In 1927, because of the work Leslie was doing in leading a nature study group of ten boys, he became a tent leader at YMCA Camp Ockanickon (Keyport NJ Enterprise, August 4, 1927). Two years later he received the Leader’s Emblem for meritorious service from the YMCA and was also awarded the Senior Red Cross Emblem for having passed the life saving tests (Monmouth Democrat, August 1, 1929).
A little known fact about Leslie was that the end of his finger was shot off. While playing baseball with friends a neighboring boy accidentally discharged a rifle with the bullet hitting Leslie’s index finger on his right hand as he was raising his hand to catch a ball. Leslie was taken to a doctor (Monmouth Democrat, March 24, 1927, p. 1) “who dressed the wound and administered an antiseptic. The Doctor believed that the injury was not severe enough to cause the permanent loss of the nail.”
Figure 2. From the Monmouth Democrat, March 24, 1927. The headlines appear to be over-dramatized – his finger was just nicked.
The Freehold Chapter of the Izaak Walton League held a junior member fishing contest in 1927. Leslie was recognized for his “wopper” brown trout that measured 15 inches and weighed one pound eight ounces. (Monmouth Democrat, May 12, 1927).
Figure 3. Catching the wopper brown trout made the news. From the Monmouth Democrat, May 5, 1927. Later in life Leslie was an avid deer hunter and even went deep sea fishing in 1937. In 1939 he went on a 10 day quail hunting trip in South Carolina.
At the Interscholastic Judging contest held at the State College (Rutgers) in 1928 Leslie placed first in apple judging and in swine judging. At this event he was elected vice president of the Young Farmers Association of New Jersey [Curator’s Note: this association was started in 1923, more about that in a future Footnote]. He also received $7.50 in gold from the Reading Railroad because he had placed 2nd in a statewide apple packing contest held on a train at the Trenton Fair in September (The Monmouth Inquirer, November 8, 1928).
At the organizational meeting of the Future Farmers of America in Kansas City in 1928 Leslie Applegate was elected as the national president. I hope he was as excited about this as he was about catching that wopper brown trout.
Figure 4. The Courier-News (Bridgewater, New Jersey), March 18, 1929. At the time of his election Leslie was 17 years old, a junior in high school, and on the school football team.
After the FFA
Before Leslie graduated from high school, his father died and left the estate to Leslie’s mother. Mrs. Applegate attempted to operate the farms with the help of Leslie and his older brother, but Leslie said he and his brother could not agree on how things should be done, so each of them bought two farms from their mother and each conducted successful farming operations thereafter. Leslie rented an additional 60 acres which gave him 250 acres in apples.
Older brother Richard owned the 200 acre Wemrock Orchards and Leslie owned and operated the Battleview Orchards {Curator’s note: During the Revolutionary War the Battle of Monmouth was fought on land that is now part of the orchard, and the Monmouth Battlefield State Park is adjacent to the orchard).
Leslie was extremely committed to YMCA and Hi-Y activities and was active in his local church. In 1931 Leslie married Bartella Probasco.
In the 1930s many FFA chapters across the country took road trips for recreational purposes and to learn about agriculture in other parts of the county (See the Friday Footnote “A Camping We Will Go” 05/07/2011). In 1936 the FFA chapters from Cedarville, Ohio and Medina, Ohio visited the Freehold FFA chapter and met Leslie.
Leslie was active in his local Grange and in the state New Jersey State Horticultural Society, where he served on the state Executive Committee. In 1940 the horticultural society held their summer conference and tour in Monmouth County and visited the Applegate orchards and apple packing facility.
Leslie also served on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Cooperative Fruit Marketing Association.
Leslie lived in a comfortable farm home, had a modern packing house and major equipment including five tractors, two sprayers, two farm trucks and two trucks for marketing his produce (Kiser, 1953).
In 1953 Leslie had eight full-time workers and employed up to 50 additional workers during the peak of the harvesting season. He was one of the first growers in New Jersey to adopt the box-pack of wrapped apples. More than one-fourth of his crop was shipped to foreign markets, mostly to Argentina.
Figure 5. Earle Stillwell, the agriculture teacher at Freehold High School for 39 years, visits with his former student, Leslie Applegate at the Orchard. Image from the FFA Archives at IUPUI.
Leslie continued to operate the Battleview Orchards as a wholesale business well into the 1950s and 1960s. Leslie’s son, Norman, persuaded him to plant a few peach trees which Leslie did to “humor” Norman.
In 1965, Leslie at the age of 50, retired and sold Battleview Orchards to his son Norman and wife Betty Lou.
When Leslie turned the orchard over to Norman, the apple business in New Jersey was starting to decline, primarily because of competition from Washington state. Norman began focusing on retail sales and diversification. More peach trees were planted along with strawberries, blueberries, sour cherries and pumpkins.
In 1972 the Battleview Orchards became the first in the state to start a “pick-your-own” operation. When Norman retired and moved to Georgia, the fourth generation of Applegates, Scott Applegate and his wife Lisa took over the orchards. In 2008 a big 100th anniversary celebration was held.
Figure 6. From the Asbury Park Press, May 2, 2008.
In 2015, Kyle the son of Scott and Lisa joined the operation full time. The Battleview Orchard continues to diversify and grow. Kyle married Maggie in 2023 – who knows perhaps a 6th generation Applegate will continue the tradition.
Concluding Remarks
Now you know the story of the first FFA president, Leslie Applegate. He is more than one sentence in the FFA Manual. He was truly a future farmer when he served as president.
Leslie passed away on December 19, 1971. He is buried in the Old Tennent Churchyard (Section C, Lot 16, Grave 279) in Manalapan Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey (near the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church). Bartella, his wife, died in 1986.
For decades the Allentown FFA chapter visited the grave of Leslie Applegate during National FFA week and placed a wreath made by Floral Design students on the grave. The chapter chaplain gives a talk of remembrance. That tradition continues today.
Figure 7. From the Messenger-Press, Allentown, NJ, March 22, 2007.
You might want to visit the Battleview Orchards website at https://www.battlevieworchards.com/.
On my next trip through New Jersey I plan to stop by the cemetery and pay my respects to Leslie Applegate.