Meinke's Has Grown Since Farm Beginnings In 1862

This week's Patch Portraits also feature the story of a Northbrook man determined to end hunger, and the story of a who serves up everything from halal meat to fresh orange juice.

When you drive down Touhy Avenue, watch for the frame house immediately east of the railroad tracks in Niles.

This unassuming structure is living history. It's been in the Meinke family, which owns Meinke's Garden Center at 5803 W. Touhy, Niles, since 1862. Henry Meinke, who's 84, says he can remember when Native Americans used to camp slightly west of what are now the railroad tracks in Chicago's Wildwood neighborhood.  

For all those years, the Meinkes have been growing things on the land and selling them, making  Meinke's what's believed to be the oldest business in Niles.

"Henry's grandfather's first wife and her husband bought it in 1862, and her husband passed away in July 1871. Henry's grandfather married the widow in August 1871," said Dolores Meinke, Henry's wife. 

Both Henry and Dolores ran the garden center for decades, ever since Henry's parents retired in the late 1950s. Now, they've handed the business off to their son Henry James "Jim" Meinke. But they find it hard to stay away from the bustling business, even as they wait for the weather to cooperate this spring.

In the early days, Henry's grandfather, who was from Mecklenberg, Germany, and later his father, farmed the land and grew vegetables.

"They had horses and wagons," explained Dolores. "They'd load them up with produce and take them down to Chicago."

At the time, many farmers operated small farms in Skokie, Morton Grove and the surrounding areas. Henry and Dolores now live in Skokie. 

In 1929, when Henry was two, his parents started operating a vegetable stand on Touhy Avenue. The family kept it going until 1985, but then decided to change the business strategy toward selling flowers and plants. At first, they bought bedding plants from other growers.

"Then we decided to build the greenhouses," Dolores said. They're filled with bedding plants, hanging baskets, annuals, perennials, herbs and a variety of unusual and hard-to-find plants. 

May is typically their busiest month, but the business operates all year long. They have a fall season, selling bulbs, wreaths and decorations, and a December season selling Christmas trees and wreaths. They sell firewood all the time.

"We want to keep our help all year round," Dolores explained.