Pueblo County CO Archives Biographies.....Fleischer, Gerhard 1866 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 December 21, 2008, 12:08 am

Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1918)

GERHARD FLEISCHER.

    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.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF COLORADO

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME III

CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1918


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