Naperville’s proximity to Chicago and its geologically rich soils allowed several nurserymen and women to flourish. In the Northern Counties Gazetteer and Directory, 1855-56, three firms operated nurseries in Naperville; Lewis Ellsworth & Co., R.M. & R.W. Hunt (DuPage Eclectic Nurseries), and Charles Musson.
Lewis Ellsworth founded his nursery in 1849 at the base of Fort Hill, now occupied by the athletic fields and dormitories of North Central College. By 1857, more than 20 men were employed to cultivate, water, and ship trees and plants across the country. At the January 4, 1860, meeting of the Executive Board of the State Agricultural Society, the Ellsworth Nursery was awarded the top prize, $20 in the “Best Arranged and Cultivated Nursery of Fruit and Ornamental trees Shrubs and Plants.”
In order to meet the demand, “so essential to the comfort and beauty of newly made prairie homes,” two new nurseries were created in the 1860s. C.W. Richmond, mapmaker, school teacher/principal at the Naperville Academy, and real estate developer broke ground northwest of downtown along the CB&Q Railroad while Ernst Von Oven, a German immigrant started his nursery (the Naperville Nurseries) west of town between the roads to Aurora and Oswego in 1866. A birds-eye view of Naperville printed in 1869 shows all three neatly arranged nurseries.
Despite the passing of Ernst in 1906, the Naperville Nurseries continued and flourished under the direction of his son, Frederick, and his two daughters, Emma and Helene. Frederick died in 1929, Helene in 1931, and Emma was alone to make business decisions. She stopped retail operations in 1950 and for the next 10 years managed a wholesale operation entirely. She died in 1960.
The Naperville Nurseries were sold and only a solitary water tower near the Von Oven family home, which is now owned by St. John’s Episcopal Church, remains as a reminder of the nursery business that once supplied Naperville and the country with fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs and plants.
