True Life Tuesday: Ralph E. Brock

Ralph Elwood Brock was born on February 15, 1881 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania to John C. and Alcinda Jane (Dickson) Brock. His father was a veteran of the 43rd Colored Infantry Regiment of the Civil War. He was also a school teacher and minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1900 Ralph graduated from Howard High School, a respected preparatory school for African Americans in Wilmington, Delaware. He briefly studied botany at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1904 he published a short paper in Forest Leaves, the official journal of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. He also became the protégé of the Pennsylvania Forestry Commissioner Joseph Trimble Rothrock. In 1903 he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Forest Academy (now Pennsylvania State University Mont Alto campus) which was 1 of only 3 forestry school in the US at the time. He was second in his 1906 graduating class and became the first academically trained black forester in the country. 

After graduating in 1906 he worked as the supervisor of the Pennsylvania state forest's seed nursery. He presented 2 papers at the first state forester's convention in 1908. While employed by the state he faced a lot of racism from the white employees he managed. In 1911 he left the state's service to create his own business. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1918  where he ran a nursery business until 1928. In 1928 he was hired by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. as a gardener for the Paul Lawrence Dunbar apartments in Harlem. He also worked as a supervisor of the Radio City Gardens at Rockefeller Center and Riverside Park in Manhattan. From 1944-1945 he worked part time as an assistant gardener at the Harlem River Houses, a public housing development.

Ralph ended up retiring in 1957 due to his failing health. He died on December 9, 1959 in Lawnside, New Jersey. He was survived by his wife, Pauline, who he married in 1908 and their son, Russell. He was buried in Chestnut Grove Cemetery outside of West Chester, Pennsylvania. In the mid-2000's the State Museum of Pennsylvania installed an exhibit on his career. He also has several dedications in his honor on the campus of his alma mater.