Great Northern Greenhouses c1926
Monroe Historical Society photo #1324

They greenhouses provided fresh flowers for the dining, club and dome cars of the passenger trains, and plants and shrubs for the gardens of the depots for the entire Great Northern Railway system. Crews from Monroe traveled to all the depots to landscape the yards. The greenhouses, designed and built by George Dishmaker, were opened in October 1926. In 1949 six greenhouses occupied the site growing to ten by 1962 when they were dismantled and sold. There was also a six-acre plot for shrubs. The greenhouses were on the north side of the railroad tracks and on the west side of Lewis Street. This photo was taken shortly after they were opened and looks northeast. The Conensery smokestack is visible in the right background and the Great Northern water tower is at extreme right and partly cutoff. The greenhouses were located between the Great Norther Mainline, visible in the right foreground and the Milwaukee branch line, which is not visible but is marked by the the Milwaukee Depot, which is visible in the center background. Dave Sprau added: The old 2-sizes-of-caps typewriter that was used to type the caption on that photo belonged to telegraph operator Busfield at the GN depot. He was still using it in 1959. I forget the Mfgr but it said on decal "Made in Ilion NY."