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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1974)
l ’an* 8 Portland Observer Thursday. October 10, 1974 Nick Schroeder stands in a bed oí tu li)" next to >'d greenhouse of the Flower Home in I . h ry s n n th e m it n i s (Continued from pg. 1. « ’I- 91 City Commissioner William Bo ts uts 20th Anniversary- cake of the Flower Home in ,.•41 with Nick and D o rthj Schroeder The lights of Nick ’* Flower look in his eyes he turned to me and said 'If you don't go with me. I'll take it alone.’ So. I decided to go in with him." It was 1921. The flower shop in question was owned by two brothers and a sister. The brothers wanted to sell, but the sister didn't. When a price was finally proof- fered. the cautious Miss Bradley nixed the idea. "I didn't want to put a mort gage on it cause as a child that's all we did wipe off mortgages.” Nick firm ly believed that it could succeed and provide a good living. So in 1921 they leased it for three years and became partners in the Home blazed across Union -Avenue. florist business. It was eight years later that Miss Bradley took M r. Schroeder and they became partners in life. They finally bought the place in 1924 and in 1925. built the first glass conservatory to occupy the premises. In 1929. Miss Bradley made a \ isit to Ia»s Angeles where she saw her first neon sign. " I tol ‘ ick that they had signs tha. look just like a big sausage so we put one up too. It was the first neon light on Union Avenue an.. Western Union told us that they used to get their bear ings from that sign." In 1930 news of the planned widening of Union Avenue prompted a thorough re examination of their oper ation. A serious look comes over M rs. Newell's face as she recalls those hectic times. “W e had already bought some of the houses around the store as well as enlarged the store. When we built the first conserva torv. the builder had told us that it was all steel con structed and that we could take it down and assemble it elsewhere. I said to Nick, T h a t's dumb. W hat does he think we're going to take it down for?' W ell, it was taken down when they en larged the street in 1930. It was moved to Seaside and put in P o rtla n d M ayor George Baker's costal home. “When the widening of Union Avenue began,” re calls Mrs. New ell, “some folks w eren't satisfied with what the city gave them for their property. So they said X Before Studio A fte r Stylemasters B arbering and 'we are just going to leave everything there.' One morning a big steam shovel came along and Zoop', took out people'« porches and everything." The Schroeder's had cut the front half of their on ginal store off and put it on the lot next door. The old greenhouse was taken down and in its place came three new ones, two conservatories and an attractive showroom. The interior was finished in mahogany and Italian traver tine. Counters and fixtures, including the icebox, were all in ornamental tile matching the travertine. A monumental wrought iron stairway lead to the lecond floor, which housed fisplavs and stork rooms A itriking feature was the glazed and opalescent art glass panel over the main entrance. And as the Schroeder's had pioneered several years previously, the building was outlined in green neon light. Although they werd still in the same spot, the address was changed from X66 Union Avenue to 4040 N .E . Union Avenue. T he c o n s e rv a to rie s on either side of the building no doubt made the flower shop one of the most beautiful edifices on Union Avenue. One of the conservatories was used for the display of seasonal flowers and plants and the other was made into an exotic garden, w ith a (o m u l fountain, bird bath, palms and tropical shrub bery. Birds and goldfish completed the picture para dise. Nick and Dorthy Schroe der. however, gave Portland more than just a beautiful new building. In an article in the November 9. 1941 Oregon Journal. Nick was quoted as saying. “Folks are accusing me of being the grandfather of all these chrysanthemum shows. Yes, I am guilty. And from the large number of chrysanthe mum shows which are being held this fall, it looks as though Portland has become chrysanthemum minded at last." Although chrysanthemums were grown in Portland before the arrival of Nick's Flower Home, they were mainly scraggly varieties of little beauty. Nick felt that since people had beautiful roses in the summertime, they should also have spec tacular flowers in the fall. So the Schroeders started h o ld in g C h ry s a n th e m u m Shows. The shows and the out standing flowers soon at tra d e d w id e a tte n tio n . Crowds flocked to Nick's Flower Home to learn of the beauty of the chrysanthe mum and how to cultivate them. By 1935, over 15,000 people attended the show each year in November. Al though th e S c h ro e d e rs stopped holding the shows during World W ar I I . the beauty of Portland's chry santhemums and the de served fame Portland has achieved for this fine flower is a result of the foresight and excellent promotion by Nick and Dorthy Schroeder. Another of Nick's major contributions to the Portland florist business was the be ginning of the wholesale flower m arket. Flow er peddlers used to visit each flo ris t shop in d iv id u a lly , which seemed a waste of time to Nick. So he in stigated the development of a flower m arket for them. Today there are several large stablishments on Grand Avenue dealing only in wholesale flowers as a result of his efforts many years ago. Times changed and people grow older and one day Nick turned to his wife of 31 years For The M a n of A c tio n Don M a n e y Consultant SEND NOW FOR FREE DEMONSTRATION Stylemasters P o rtla n d , O re g o n 2 8 2 -2 2 9 1 IENOWS B R A N D S y o u know P1CV Prom pt /IP_ • • • • * • • * ........................... » t e-ee» icAta.. • M fV h t» e U filtio G K O tfV S A UD 1V0X Heating Aids DJt LÂKKY • 19-Day F»ee T r ia l MB 227-7200 Oplom tfriih Lo salad in S IM IE • OPTICAL O Y D C IS h im - uvn • UMtiaiaoo Chrysanthemum thrive in the greenhouse. Ori-fs A I m , in U L IN t l ' C t l l a M il l » III ★ S.W . 3rd A MORRISON Associata Oactnn at Optamatr» PORTLAHO M . Larry » IM L IR - M NULL - DR M KILLY Opiometntt* In Other SF. ML ER <)//»< e» hu hub OR O W A L U 1 -O N H V I M Sears Swan Island Retail Outlet Store Sears S H O P A T SR A R S A N D .SAVE S a lt» /a ctio n G u a ra n teed o r Y o itr M o n e y Hack SAVINGS TO 40% U - HAUL AND SAVE! MORE • All items redured. some merchandise is freight damaged, customer returns, discontinued items, floor samples • All carry Sears money bark guarantee Use Sears Convenient Credit for your purchases New Merchandise Arriving Daily! DISHWASHERS KENMORE WASHERS Regular $199.95 . . Kenmore Automatic 2 cycle, 1 o n ly .................................................. $138oo Regular $219.95 . . Kenmore Automatic. 4 cycle, I only ................................................... $178°° RANGES-OVEHS Regular $.359 95 . . . Classic Double Oven Electric, I only R e g u la r $.3X4 95 40 In W Cont Clean oven, I only Regular $3X9.95 Microwave E le c tric Oven Cook ami Defrost Cycle, I onlv C9C000 ^Z^7 (TIAAAA J 1 /7 tf O T O O O Y / / ( l A/w/ Was $254 95 3 cycle Kenmore Heavy Duty Auto. 2 speeds, I only Was $349.95 . . laidy Kenmore 10 cycle Heavy Duty. 2 Sjieeds. Automatic. I Was $139 95 . . 17 Cu. Ft. W ith Spare master Shelving. I only ............................... Was $199 95 . . . 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Uplwmetrie CYC e x a m in a tio n For SINGLE LENS BI-rOCALS TRIFOCALS • P m o o m ii tad WtILi« Ptlieali Wtlcoead SHOP AT SEARS AND SAVE S fA II — D m UNUR U Sah»!at tion G uaranteed or Y our M oney Hack i ; / o - i < »• » •« I ...e b « > -1 a ta M il, C 1 IV _ ___ Smart Now Frame» A Lon» Stylos All Optical CONTACT LENS INSURAN C E ------- * ------ Acc.p,d * £ £ £ W as $ 199.95 . . . G re e n U p h o lste re d Cover, I only .................................................... FOR 1 1 i Reprinted from <Md Portland Today.) S IZ E S y o u w a n t A D P R IS S . ‘¿NBMwivr and became Mrs. Dorthy Newell. Nick's Flow er Home was indeed the "showplace of Portland". Today, the show place is gone, torn down in Need —. Glasses V A R IE T IE S y o u lik< N A M L ___ » SHOP 4 6 3 8 N E S an d y B lvd. Please arrange free demonstration : and said " I t ’s tim e for us to get out." Reflecting back, Mrs. New ell remembers how dearly she love«) the place and how she didn't want to let it. go. “He told me that if anything happened to him, 1 was to unload this place. I said I'd keep it up. He said it would kill me.“ She recognized the neigh horhood had changed and it was rapidly becoming the center of Portland's Black community. Glass was being destroyed daily in the two conservatories and break ins were becoming common. It was several years before the W atts riots, hut N irk , ac cording to Dorthy, saw the handwriting on the wall when he told her. "Babe, you haven't seen anything yet." The end of Nick's Flower Home came to a conclusion when E rv Lind offered to buy the business M r. Lind had a flower shop on Knott Street and felt that if he bought the place he could do away with the middle man as he could raise his own flowers in their greenhouses. M r. Lind was insistent and talked to an attorney who was also a friend of the Schroeders and asked him to persuade M rs Schroeder to sell. “I hated to sell it. But they finally got me into an attorney's office. The at torney told me that this was the chance of a lifetime. He looked right at me and said some day you're going to thank me for this.' So I signed my name." And so came to a close the S ch ro eder's o p e ra tio n of Nick's Flow er Home The shop continued to operate after the Schroeder's sold it in 1961 Erv Lind, however, diet! three years after he purchased it. For the re maining time until it finally closed in 1971. it was oper ated by his wife Em ma Lind Mrs. New ell vividly re members the awful rio t* that shook Union Avenue io the summer of 1965. "One day 1 was coming into Portland and as I got closer and closer to Union Avenue, I saw debris all over the streets and windows broken in all the stores. I knew what had happened and I went to M r. Curry, the attorney who had helped us sell the place a few years bark, and I said to him "Today is the day. You said I ’ll be glad I sold and today is the day I ’m glad I did it'." Emma Lind continued to operate the shop after the riots, but it was difficult to make a go of it no m atter how well the shop was oper ated. Night a fter night the shop was broken into. Dam age in one form or another occurred to the delicate buildings every day. Finally in 1971 she closed the shop up and moved to the present location in Lloyd Center. "My sisters think it is terrible and won' even pass by the old store," muses Mrs. Newell. But look, it's material isn't it? It served its purpose and God gave us 41 years there. We built it up. It was hard work, but I enjoyed it." Nick Schroeder died in 1966 and Dorthy Schroeder married a boyhood friend several years later RECLINERS AFRO HAIRPIECES H arvey Bienert O w ner By 1927. Nick's Flow er Home already had a small fleet of delivery cars and trucks. but a few weeks what look a lifetime to create. The Flow er Home is now Port bnd history, a unique Inati tution lost to the ravages of a changing society. The area would no longer support it and the real of the city no longer cared. The green houses have vanished, the conservatories are in ruins, but in gardens throughout the city chrysanthemums will be budding in the fall. Their fall, bright, and beautiful blooms are a tribute to the woman and man who created Nick's ‘ 'lower Home and made Portland famous not just for its roaes, but also for its spectacular ilia play of the majestic chry santhemum SEA R S S W A N IS L A N D O U T L E T STO R E 5230 North Basin Avenue Phone 2X3 22X1 STO R E HO URS Monday Thru Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.