Greenhouses

In 1915, three of John W. Vasatka's sons started Vasatka Brothers by building greenhouses at 4321 Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis . Edward later bought out his brothers, Otto and Julius, and changed the firm name to Chicago Avenue Floral. Only floral products were grown from the start. As more greenhouses were erected, the firm extended to 4351 Chicago Avenue . Edward's sons Donald and Calvin (Bud) operated the business from the late 1940s. The greenhouses were taken down in 1965. Donald and his son Donald currently operate the Chicago Floral Company retail shop at 4351 Chicago Avenue .

Alex Anderson moved from Deerwood to Alexandria and bought ten acres of land in 1915. Flower growing had been his hobby. He immediately built a house, and soon thereafter, a store and two 14 x 50 foot greenhouses. The business grew steadily and there were five larger greenhouses when son Ardyce and wife Lorraine bought the business in 1950. There were ten greenhouses when the firm was sold in 1990 to Dave and Jan Pederson.

John Robert Johnson, a native of Sweden , worked for a member of the Cargill family and for Minneapolis Floral. In 1916, he built Johnson Greenhouses on Edward Street in St. Anthony Village , where land was relatively low priced. In the 1940s, the firm specialized in cut carnations, and later added a wide selection of green plants. John Richard, John Robert's son, took over the business after World War II. A wholesale commission house, Johnson's Wholesale Florist, was started in 1958. Supplies for growers and retailers were added to their product line within a few years. The company name became J.R. Johnson Supply, Inc.

In 1916, Edward Schuster started Schuster's Nursery and Flower Shop in Crookston. Ernest Zitzer began working in the greenhouses there in the late 1920s, and purchased the business when Schuster died in 1936. Zitzer's Nursery and Floral expanded to 11 greenhouses and produced a wide array of cut flowers, pot plants and bedding plants, as well as all types of perennials and nursery stock in the fields. Crops were sold at wholesale and retail. Funeral flowers were sold on a commission basis all over northwestern Minnesota . Dale Wreisner operated the business from 1960 to 1962. The greenhouses were then closed and the land sold for development. Bill Montague purchased the downtown flower shop in 1966 and continues in business in 1995. Currently there are also two other flower shops and a small greenhouse in Crookston.