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ANNIVERSARY 
HE House of Michell was founded fifty years ago in 1890 when two brothers, Henry F. and Frederick 
J. Michell, opened a store in a modest 2J^-story building at 1018 Market Street, Philadelphia, with four 
employees on the payroll in addition to the two proprietors. 
Like most young men going into business for themselves, they started out with high ideals and pledged 
themselves that “quality” of both merchandise and service would be their first, as well as last, consideration, 
and for half a century those ideals have never been lowered. This has not been an easy road to follow; it has 
meant constant attention to details by every member of the organization and a stubborn insistence on 
quality first, price second. 
Our first catalog had 48 pages and was considered to be quite some catalog; this one has 172 pages and 
its colored illustrations are made from actual photographs of the flowers depicted. 
The merchandise and methods of the new firm pleased its customers so well that by 1899 it became 
necessary to rebuild the store into a five-story establishment, and we find, in going through the records for 
1900, that the payrolls carried 80 employees, of whom 11 were commercial travelers w'ho covered all the 
states east of the Mississippi. 
In 1903 the business was incorporated, and in 1906 was departmentalized into eight departments—Flower 
Seed, Vegetable Seed, Grass Seed, Plant, Bulb, Tool and Implement, Sundry and Florist Supply—with a 
specialist at the head of each department. This made for even better service and was so appreciated by the 
public that by 1910 it was necessary to find larger quarters, and property at 518 Market Street, a few blocks 
farther dowm town, was bought and remodeled into a modern, up-to-date seed establishment at the re¬ 
modeling cost of $50,000.00. Soon after this it became evident that the business was outgrowing its storage 
space, so in 1912 a large 4-story building on Ludlow Street was secured, and this was occupied until 1918 when 
growing pains again called for action, and the immense building at American and Dauphin Streets became 
the Michell warehouse. This great building has four floors of 20,000 square feet each, and a basement, with 
a private railroad siding running into the building. 
In 1922, to relieve the now overcrowded store, the building next door, at 516 Market Street, was pur¬ 
chased and converted into a modern salesroom. 
HENRY F. MICHELL 
FREDERICK J. MICHELL 
THE MICHELL BUILDING 
1890 to 1899 
SEEDS MICHELL BULBS 
