Trip Through Western Pennsylvania
In May, 1889, I took a trip through Western Pennsylvania, as far as Pittsburgh. There I met for the first time such people as P. S. Randolph, A. W. Smith, Fred Burki, the Elliot Co., Mrs. E. Williams, the Ludwigs, and others—florists who have made a great success and are still in active service. Pittsburgh impressed me at the time, and I have never had occasion to change my impression, as a live, progressive and hustling city. Although somewhat out of season, and notwithstanding the fact that I was at that time a stranger among strangers, I found business quite encouraging.
The Johnstown Flood—Fortunate Escape
From Pittsburgh, I began to work my way homeward, since my employer intended to revisit his native city of Cologne, in Germany. My first stop after leaving Pittsburgh was Johnstown, Pa., and had I by chance arrived there a week later, I might not at this moment be here to tell the tale. For it was just one week later, the 30th of May, to be accurate—that one of the greatest disasters that ever befell any city in any land, overwhelmed Johnstown. The town was simply swept out of existence, and even such substantial buildings as the Commercial Hotel, where I stayed at the time, were swept down by the flood, many a traveling man meeting his doom in the angry waters. At Johnstown, I well remember, I chanced upon a temperance meeting in the public square one evening. As I recall the incident now, the exhortation of the speaker seems almost prophetic. He denounced alcohol in all its forms, and advocated in its place pure water; they were soon to have enough, and more than enough, of that!
In Johnstown I made one customer, a man named Lupke; and the box of goods sent to him was swept away in the whirlpool. The man saved his life. Another florist, a Mr. Ackers, was less fortunate. A week prior to the disaster, he promised me some business in the Fall, but he never lived to keep his promise. He was among the thousands that were drowned.
Johnstown As It Is Today
Johnstown today is altogether a different city from the Johnstown twenty-eight years ago. The narrow unattractive streets, the low and crooked buildings, are no longer to be seen. In their stead there are wide streets, beautiful homes, magnificent business blocks, modern hotels, cafes, theaters, and so on. In every respect, Johnstown bears the stamp of progress and prosperity. The florists of Johnstown today are likewise different from those of a generation ago. T. Malbranc has a modern greenhouse plant and produces excellent stock. Mrs. Malbranc presides over the store, and attends to that end in a manner that does her credit. Schmidt the Florist, on the hill, has an extensive greenhouse establishment, where the stock produced never lacks in quality His young son-in-law, Mr. Walker, is the presiding genius in the downtown store, a store that would do credit to a much larger city. William Schrader is a successful grower, as well as a successful business man. His place is always a model of neatness and scrupulous care. Like the others he has a store in town, and does a good business. Herman Neissner, the dean of the florists in Johnstown, whose place existed long before the flood, pays especial attention to decorative work, although he, too, has a greenhouse establishment a short distance from Schrader's place, where cut flowers and bulbous stock are being grown successfully.
In June, 1889, my employer left for Europe, leaving me in full control of the establishment. I attended to orders, collections, banking, and the rest of it. My interest was, perhaps, too well centered in that establishment to suit at times the convenience and comfort of my own little family. In other words, in this case it
