George and George Herman Ellwanger papers

George Ellwanger was born on December 2, 1816 in Grossheppach, Germany. From a young age, he was interested in horticulture, and undertook a formal four-year program in the field at Stuttgart from 1830 to 1834. In 1835, he moved to the United States, first joining an uncle in Tiffin, Ohio, but soon moving to Rochester, New York. In 1836, he found work with the Reynolds and Bateham Rochester Seed Store and Horticultural Repository, which he purchased when the partnership dissolved in 1838. With a new partner of his own, Thomas Rogers, Ellwanger purchased the first eight acres of what would become his Mount Hope Nurseries on March 24, 1839. The partnership with Rogers turned out to be less than ideal, and Ellwanger found a new partner in Irish immigrant Patrick Barry in the spring of 1840. Together, the two men would turn the Mount Hope Nurseries into a preeminent nursery business, with Ellwanger introducing both improved horticultural practices and European nursery stock to the business. Mount Hope Nurseries would reach its maximum extent of 650 acres in 1871, as the company built a global reputation for quality stock. In 1846, Ellwanger married Cornelia Brooks. Besides his nursery, Ellwanger was a director of Eastman Kodak Company, the Rochester Gas Company, Rochester-Brighton Street Railway, the Union Bank and the Flour City Bank. He was a trustee of the Monroe Savings Bank and Rochester Trust and Safety Dposit Company. He also left a public legacy to the City of Rochester through his and Barry's advocacy of building a public park system and their donation of 22 acres of land to the City in 1883 that became Highland Park. Ellwanger died on November 26, 1906, and was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.

George Herman Ellwanger was born on July 10, 1848. Following in his father's footsteps, George Herman studied horticulture, ultimately spending 5 years in Europe to complete his education. He returned to Rochester, where he took an active role in the family business. George Herman also built a reputation as a writer on horticulture, in both the professional and popular press. He was particularly noted for his books Garden's Story (1889) and The Story of My House (1891). At the time of his death, George Herman was director and secretary of both the Ellwanger and Barry Company and the Ellwanger and Barry Realty Company. He was also a member of the Author's Club of New York, the Pundit Club of Rochester, and an honorary member of England's National Rose Society. George Herman passed away from heart failure on April 23, 1906.