History: Dearborn Fruit Farm, Holmdel (1965)

Dearborn Fruit Farm ad in The Matawan Journal, 19 Aug 1965

Dominick J Luccarelli began running ads for Dearborn Fruit Farm, Route 35, Holmdel in The Matawan Journal in the mid-1960s.

According to the history page at Dearborn Market's website, Dominick's father, Frank Luccarelli, bought 100 acres of Holmdel farmland in 1925 and raised fruits and vegetables for sale in New York City. The Dearborn roadside stand was established in 1950 and was soon taken over by son Dominick.

Frank Luccarelli was born 27 Dec 1886 in Taranto, Italy and came to the US in 1910, according to census and draft records. He registered for the WWI draft in 1917 while living in Brooklyn. He was married with an infant daughter and part owner of a farm at 2300 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn in 1920. He was a widowed truck farmer living in Holmdel in 1930 with 3 young daughters and a son, Pedro. He traveled alone to Italy circa 1931, giving a Keyport address, and returned from Naples to New York aboard the S S Conde Grande in Mar 1931. By 1940, Frank had remarried and had 8 children, including 3 more daughters and a son, Dominic. The property was listed on Centerville Road in Holmdel and worth $16,000 in 1940. Frank died in Jun 1971.

(Note: Household 69 appears on pp 6-7 of the 1940 census. Household 222 appears on pp 20-21 of the 1930 census. Household 75 family 103 appears on page 9 of the 1920 census.)