At the turn of the 20th century, Old North Dayton was established as a new home for a host of central European immigrants - Poles, Hungarians, Lithuanians and Germans. They brought with them a rich tapestry of cultural and social norms.
In 1905, German immigrant Joseph Furst and his wife started a greenhouse business on their family Troy Street homestead. They grew vegetables, and flowers and sold them at a local farmers market.
For more than a century Furst The Florist and Greenhouses has grown as a multi-general family business, recently celebrating their 120th birthday.
WYSO attended the event to talk with the owners, and customers attending the celebration.
“It's a very special place and we're lucky to have it.”
'Lucky to have it'
On a sunny Saturday morning in late May, the birthday celebration at Furst Florist and Greenhouses was underway.
The checkout line in the Garden Center was already several customers deep, their shopping carts filled with colorful flats of annuals, potted perennials, hanging baskets and other items.
Beyond the front entrance, more customers perused the Furst of several large greenhouses filled with an impressive variety of flowers and plants, all grown on-site. And further out, a band played music while still more customers listened at nearby tables eating food provided for the celebration.
“It's a very special place and we're lucky to have it,” said customer Janet Dorman. She was there shopping with her mom, Donna Trentman, who said Furst is all about family.
“Well, I've never been disappointed," Trentman said. "They've done all our weddings, and we had eight children. They've the grandchildren's weddings. My kids all shop here."
Trentman said she likes the quality and the selection and the arrangements.
“And my children, my grandchildren this year, gave me fresh flowers from Furst every month. That was my gift from my grandchildren, because I have 20 grandchildren.”
“Our service has to be number one all the time, and that's what keeps our customer base coming back,” said Steve Furst, the fourth of five generations who have kept the family business operating.
“And not only is the, as far as generations of the Fursts, there's generations of the customers that my dad may have done their wedding and now we're doing their grandkids weddings and so forth. So it's generations of customers coming back now too, which is a really neat thing to have happen,” he said.
Representing the fifth family generation is Kylie Johnson. Steve's daughter, she said the Furst family also includes the seasonal and full-time employees working there.
“It's very family oriented,” she said. “I would definitely say that. We have staff that's been with us 15, 20, 30 years. So quickly it becomes a family environment. I think even new employees come and see that very quickly. So I think that's the most special part about it.”
“We have found niches in our industry.”
Kylie Johnson made her way back to the family business after college, and both she and Steve credit mom and wife, Jeanna Furst, for a lot of the business's current success. Jeanna calls it her passion and explains the strategy behind that success.
“We don't just depend on the flower holidays that we all know, we find times that customers need us,” she said. “We have found niches in our industry.”
Those niches Furst Florist has found include servicing all of our local hospital gift shops and supplying the large potted floral displays located along many downtown Dayton streets.
“And it's great because it keeps our staff busy,” Jeanna said. “We don't have layoffs. We do our best to keep 70-plus employees on the payroll year-round. So truly after this garden season, we'll be into wedding season. In July, we start for Christmas. And then our fall season happens. We grow mums, kale, all the fall crops. And then the poinsettias start, and it just goes full circle.”
“We're going to be here forever... we're rooted here.”
Traditions continue
For Jeanna, that full circle extends to the neighborhood where their immigrant ancestors started the family business so long ago.
“So that went on and you had these wonderful businesses that rooted here and grew and stayed true to their roots,” she explains. “And over time, you know, families grow and move on, and it's changed, but in the last maybe 15 years, there's been a big influence of new immigrants to the United States, and they have settled in Old North Dayton. And the amazing thing, they've rehabbed a lot of wonderful old homes. They love to garden, and they love flowers. And they bring their children, and I know their children are going to carry on that tradition as well.”
And as those traditions continue, Furst florist and Greenhouses say they'll be a part of them.
“So we're going to be here forever,” Jeanna says. “We have no intentions of moving; we're rooted here.”
Furst Florist and Greenhouses' Garden Center opens in spring and closes in late June when most of the grown-on-site plantings have been sold, however, the business remains active year-round.
