'Choicest Varieties of Celery' illustration   Save
Printed Material
Description: "Choicest Varieties of Celery" is the headline next to a drawing of Kalamazoo celery, a new variety promoted on p. 11 of the trade catalog "Beautiful Flowers from the Calla Greenhouses, Calla, Ohio" (1899). The illustration shows a bunch of celery with the letters of the name "Kalamazoo" arranged in a vertical column. The catalog was published by Lewis Templin and Sons Seed Company (Calla, Ohio), which was among the largest mail-order seed houses in the United States during the mid- to late 1800s. Pennsylvania native Lewis Templin moved to Ohio in 1822 and started his nursery in 1845 in Canfield. In 1866 Templin and four sons built a greenhouse at Loveland Station (later renamed "Calla"). The business had a well-deserved reputation for quality products and for generating its financial success solely from small, individual orders. Templin's son Mark produced the firm's catalogs, including "Beautiful Flowers from the Calla Greenhouses." An estimated 300,000 catalogs were distributed annually. A fire destroyed the company's entire spring crop in January 1892, but afterwards the firm rebuilt on an even larger scale. Lewis Templin died in 1899. His sons continued operating the business until 1907, when increased competition and rising costs caused it to fail. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05783
Subjects: Nurseries (Horticulture)--Catalogs; Seed products; Trade catalogs--Ohio--1880-1900; Botanical illustration; Ohio Economy--Agriculture
Places: Calla (Ohio); Mahoning County (Ohio)