Great Northern Greenhouses c1946
Monroe Historical Society photo #1428

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 c1946 looking northwest with Jack Law, a summer employee at the time, mowing the grounds.