Pueblo County Biographies

Pueblo County, Colorado
GERHARD FLEISCHER

Contributed by Karen Mitchell.

Gerhard Fleischer is the proprietor of Fleischer's greenhouses, located on Summit, Palmer, Claremont and Green avenues, and a flower store at No. 216 North Main street in Pueblo. He has won a place among the most successful and prominent florists of Colorado and at Pueblo today utilizes thirty-six city lots in carrying on his florist business, his greenhouses covering at the present time thirty-seven thousand square feet under glass. He has all modern equipment and is engaged not only in the cultivation of beautiful flowers and plants but also in the propagation of vegetables. He was born in Saxony, Germany, January 8, 1866, and is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Fleischer, both of whom have passed away. The father, who was a minister of the German Lutheran church, died a few years ago. Gerhard Fleischer had three brothers: Arthur, who died and was buried in Pueblo, Colorado; Gotthold, who acted as superintendent of a gun works in Kabul, Afghanistan, and was there assassinated, his murderers, eight in number, being later executed at one time; and Martin, who died in Germany a short time after his graduation from the University of Leipzig. In his youthful days Gerhard Fleischer attended the schools of Germany, pursuing a high school course, and later he attended an agricultural academy and an horticultural college. He won his degree from the latter institution when a youth of eighteen years. He then worked at his profession in his native country until 1890, when he came to the new world. Making his way to Pueblo, Colorado, he entered the employ of the late M. D. Thatcher, president of the First National Bank of Pueblo, and was given charge of his private garden. In 1892 he opened his greenhouses with two thousand feet under glass, and something of the development of his business is indicated in the fact that he today has thirty-seven thousand feet under glass. His greenhouses and grounds cover thirty-six city lots and are supplied with the most modern equipment for the propagation and care of beautiful flowers and plants. Moreover, he has done much for the development of the city, for he laid out City Park, the extension to Mineral Palace and Fairmount Park, Bessemer Park, East Pueblo Park, including the courthouse lawn, and many of the fine lawns of Pueblo. He was a pioneer in his business in this city, opening the first florist establishment here. He has always made a specialty of furnishing funeral designs and all kinds of decorations and in his store ever carries a large line of cut flowers. He now grows fifteen thousand carnations, forty thousand bedding plants, six thousand roses and all kinds of cut flowers in season. This year, on account of the war, he furnished one hundred thousand tomato plants, which he had grown for a canning factory at Crowley, and other vegetable plants for the trade, so that the development of home gardens may assist in saving the food. On the 6th of October, 1893, Mr. Fleischer was married to Miss Mary Zarn, in Pueblo, Colorado, and their children are as follows. Waldemar, who is assisting his father and who has specialized in the florist business, was sent east by his father and remained in that part of the country for a few years in order to thoroughly acquaint himself with the florist's trade. Gretchen, a prominent singer, studied in Germany for three years following her graduation from the Pueblo high school and is at present preparing for an operatic career in Chicago. Marie, who is a graduate of the Guilford Academy and pursued a musical course in a conservatory of New York, is now attending business college in Pueblo. In politics Mr. Fleischer maintains an independent course, supporting men rather than party. He belongs to the Lutheran church and he is one of the oldest members of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Pueblo. He also has membership with the Woodmen of the World and with the Commerce Club of Pueblo, with the American Florists' Association, of which he is a life member, and with the American Florists' Telegraph Delivery Association, the last named being an international society. He greatly loves hunting and turns to it for recreation. He also enjoys fishing and in fact every phase of outdoor life, but his greatest interest and love is for flowers. As a business man he has prospered aud aside from his interests as a florist he has become connected with mining and oil properties as well as with manufacturing enterprises in and out of Colorado. His activities have been carried steadily forward and the intelligent direction of his efforts, combined with scientific knowledge of the different phases of his business, has made him very successful in the conduct of his interests. History Of Colorado Illustrated Volume III Chicago The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1918

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