{"id":713,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-03-04 21:32:02","latitude":41.41734699999999946840034681372344493865966796875,"longitude":-81.6671489999999948850017972290515899658203125,"title":"Cleveland&#039;s Greenhouse Industry","subtitle":"&quot;Gardens Under Glass&quot;","fullsize":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/beca9c6f4cb2fd59903c6c5f4c01fff5.jpg","address":"826 E Schaaf Rd, Brooklyn Heights, OH 44131","zoom":12,"creator":["J. Mark Souther"],"description":"On the southern rim of the industrial Flats along the Cuyahoga River, Martin Luther Ruetenik, son of a German immigrant pastor, built his first greenhouse on Schaaf Road in the village of Brooklyn Heights in 1885.  Over time his greenhouses and truck farms earned him the nickname the “Celery King.” By 1900 a handful of other growers, including Fred Witthuhn, had joined him, placing a total of five acres “under glass.”  Despite increasing competition from southern and western states, the Brooklyn Heights greenhouse industry continued to expand, and Ruetenik pioneered scientific methods that made Cleveland’s hothouse industry a national model.  By the mid-1920s, some fifty businesses maintained eighty acres of greenhouses that grew primarily tomatoes, leaf lettuce, and cucumbers in rapid rotation.  A secondary focus of the industry was to supply Easter lilies and “the potted plant and window box trade.”  <br />\r\n<br />\r\nRuetenik and other growers banded together in 1926 to form the Cleveland Hothouse Vegetable Growers’ Cooperative Association.  This organization undertook scientific research and promoted greenhouse produce.  It also started the Greenhouse Vegetable Packing Company in Berea, which graded and packed tomatoes and other produce bound for market.  Martin Reutenik maintained a fleet of Ford Model T’s that trucked produce to markets from Indiana to Pennsylvania.  However, the majority of the vegetables grown in Cleveland-area greenhouses were sold locally from small roadside stands and in Central and West Side Markets.  <br />\r\n<br />\r\nGreenhouse agriculture was no simple endeavor.  In fact, it was both laborious and expensive.  In summer, when Ohio’s outdoor farms were in the middle of their growing season, greenhouse farmers were hard at work sterilizing soil, cleaning boilers, and repiping their greenhouses as needed.  Sometimes they burned tobacco stems in large cans, releasing clouds of blue smoke to kill insects inside the greenhouses.  In fall, hothouse workmen transplanted seeds twice, ultimately placing them at regular intervals in long rows.  Mimicking the work of bees, they tapped tomato blossoms with electric vibrating rods every other day to force fruit to develop on the plants.  Using steel pipes to release steam, hothouse growers carefully regulated the temperature inside the greenhouses to create ideal conditions for crop development.  Every few years workers also had to sterilize the soil with steam “lest the slightest disease invade the indoor empire.”  <br />\r\n<br />\r\nCleveland’s greenhouse industry continued to expand through the mid-20th century, reaching 400 acres under glass and employing 1,000 hothouse farmers, many of them Puerto Rican migrants, by the early 1960s.  By that time greenhouses stretched for more than two miles along either side of Schaaf Road, and additional smaller concentrations could be found in Olmsted Falls, Rocky River, Columbia Station, Berea, Avon, Sheffield Lake, and Wooster.  In 1966, Governor James A. Rhodes visited the A. G. Heinrichs Greenhouse on Schaaf Road to promote Ohio’s greenhouse industry.  At a special luncheon there, he washed down nine large hothouse tomatoes and a cucumber and Bibb lettuce salad with a glass of tomato juice.  Even as Rhodes was extolling the hothouse growers’ successes, the “Greenhouse Capital of America,” which produced 80 million pounds of tomatoes each year, was already on the cusp of decline.  <br />\r\n<br />\r\nGreenhouse agriculture was always a high-cost undertaking that depended on high yields per acre to generate a profit.  A single acre under glass not only required misting plants from overhead pipes with 750,000 gallons of water per year, it also produced a hefty heating bill.  As the cost of burning coal in boilers to heat greenhouses became prohibitive in the early 1960s, farmers turned to natural gas, but then the energy crisis of the early 1970s drove up the price of gas so much that many greenhouse owners could no longer afford to operate.  Pollution from nearby factories in the Flats produced smog that only compounded the problems associated with Cleveland’s notoriously dark, cloudy winters. Sometimes heavy rains caused chemicals in the air to seep into the greenhouses, burning plants.  Industrial expansion also placed a premium on spacious farmlands outside the city, and many struggling hothouse growers were eager to sell.  One such farmer, Edwin Orth, sold all but three acres of his 60-acre Brooklyn Heights farm in 1969, including 16 greenhouses, which became part of a new industrial park.  Growing competition from government-subsidized greenhouse companies in Canada further undercut Cleveland’s greenhouses.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nBy the 1980s, most of the large greenhouses in Brooklyn Heights were no more.  Smaller ones remained, but they turned away from growing vegetables in favor of flowers, trees, shrubs, and seasonal plants such as poinsettias. Today one can still see the Ruetenik mansion, which the “Celery King” built in the 1930s on Schaaf Road.  Nearby a small handful of remnant greenhouses operate to this day, offering a hint of Cleveland’s onetime national reputation as a center of “manufactured” vegetables.  <br />\r\n<br />\r\nCould Northeast Ohio recapture its position as the “Greenhouse Capital of America?”  If the Cuyahoga Valley Greenhouse Growers Association, formed in 2009, has its way, it will do so using state-of-the-art sustainable greenhouse technologies.  The Green City Growers Cooperative, opened in 2013 in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood, produces hydroponic Butterhead, Cleveland Crisp, and Green leaf lettuce in a 3-1/4-acre greenhouse that overlooks the RTA rapid transit line.  As the nation’s largest urban food-production greenhouse, Green City Growers is not so much a sign that Cleveland is returning to its coal-fueled hothouse heyday as it is a suggestion that the Forest City might become a national leader in environmentally friendly urban agriculture.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"The former Reutenik mansion is a private residence.","lede":"<div>\"An acre of lettuce under the artificial rain is a sight to remember. The sun plays rainbows on the mist and glints from the little pools and bright green leaves; the moisture stirs rich smells from the light earth; the rain itself, the patter of the drops on the leaves, the grateful odor of the plants and soil, all are in miniature, confined under a sky of glass—within is spring, beyond lies winter.\"</div>\n<div>— John W. Love, \"Manufacturing Cleveland’s Vegetables,\" <em>Cleveland Plain Dealer</em>, February 4, 1923</div>","website":null,"related_resources":["Bridge, Raymond. “Greenhouses on Schaaf Road Give a Taste of Farm Life.” <em>Plain Dealer.</em> May 11, 1970.","\"<a href=\"https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-greenhouse-vegetable-growers-cooperative-assn\">Cleveland Greenhouse Vegetable Growers' Cooperative Assn.</a>\" <em>Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.</em>","Crawford, John A. “Looking Over Cuyahoga County’s Farms.” <em>Plain Dealer</em>. May 17, 1931.","Drake, Robert J. “It’s Harvest Time Under Glass.” <em>Plain Dealer</em>. February 1, 1957.","Flanagan, James B. “Local Tomatoes No Brooklyn Tree.” <em>Plain Dealer. </em>April 14, 1968.","<a href=\"http://www.evgoh.com/feature/green-city-growers/\">Green City Growers Cooperative</a>.","Rodgers, Timothy G., \"<a href=\"https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevmembks/34\">Remembering Ruetenik Gardens</a>\" (2017). <em>Cleveland Memory</em>. 34.","Wagner, Dennis. \"<a href=\"http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm/ref/collection/urbanfarm/id/1523\">The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Greenhouse Industry.</a>\" 2013. Cleveland Memory Project. Cleveland State University Library Special Collections."],"factoids":["With 400 acres \"under glass\" by the early 1960s, Greater Cleveland enjoyed the reputation as the \"Greenhouse Capital of America.\"  The only larger concentrations in the world were said to be in Holland and England.","Today Cleveland has the largest urban hydroponic greenhouse in the U.S."],"files":{"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/beca9c6f4cb2fd59903c6c5f4c01fff5.jpg":{"id":7244,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"A &quot;World Under Glass,&quot; 1970","description":"Taken at Zurowski&#039;s Greenhouse at 468 Schaaf Road, this view gives a sense of how glass constituted the dominant landscape form in the Schaaf Road section of Brooklyn Heights, the nation&#039;s densest concentration of greenhouses. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections | July 28, 1970 | Bernie Noble","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/beca9c6f4cb2fd59903c6c5f4c01fff5.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/37547afbab735795e35421c8cff0fd35.jpg":{"id":7239,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Martin L. Ruetenik, 1929","description":"Ruetenik founded Ruetenik Gardens and built the first commercial greenhouse in the Cleveland area in the 1880s. Ruetenik pioneered a number of advances in greenhouse design and growing techniques. Here he poses with his Bibb lettuce harvest. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections | March 20, 1929","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/37547afbab735795e35421c8cff0fd35.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/6d0b76b2c27eceb2b6d312c2c6c8c9b3.jpg":{"id":7246,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Map of Schaaf Road Area, 1912","description":"A concentration of greenhouses was already visible in this atlas map in the early 1910s. Over the ensuing decades, greenhouses would consume much of the open land in this section of the village of Brooklyn Heights.  | <em>Plat Book of the City of Cleveland</em>. Philadelphia: G. M. Hopkins, 1912. | 1912","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/6d0b76b2c27eceb2b6d312c2c6c8c9b3.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/337e3697a97ab70baeb655b62757cb21.jpg":{"id":7240,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Greenhouses, 1927","description":"Houses along Schaaf Road in Brooklyn Heights are visible in the background. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections | April 29, 1927","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/337e3697a97ab70baeb655b62757cb21.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/824119ce21a5d569ac1c95664867ee17.jpg":{"id":7241,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"A. G. Heinrichs Greenhouses, 1935","description":"Aerial view of the Schaaf Road area during the Depression years. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections | March 5, 1935","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/824119ce21a5d569ac1c95664867ee17.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/ca14c3bb502cd0ac5fbd8970967e8a11.jpg":{"id":7242,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Greenhouse Vegetable Packing Company, 1936","description":"Women grade and pack tomatoes from area greenhouses in this facility at the Berea Fairgrounds. The packing house was part of a longstanding growers cooperative that advanced the area&#039;s hothouse industry for several decades. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections | June 15, 1936","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/ca14c3bb502cd0ac5fbd8970967e8a11.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/a4c2a6ee6ff47bbfab1ed1a0a8bd84db.jpg":{"id":7249,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Hothouse Tomato Ad, 1948","description":"The Cleveland Hothouse Vegetable Growers&#039; Cooperative Association worked to convince consumer to buy local tomatoes grown in the area&#039;s greenhouses. | Cleveland Plain Dealer | July 1, 1948","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/a4c2a6ee6ff47bbfab1ed1a0a8bd84db.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/3010c8847d5c095309e4baaabe8c890d.jpg":{"id":7247,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Students at Ruetenik Gardens, 1949","description":"Tom Oleksiak, 15, of St. Stanislaus School, Dave Hoffman, 18, of West Tech, and Ed Okeksiak, 17, of East Tech work after school planting seedlings at Ruetenik Gardens. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections | March 22, 1949 | Byron Filkins","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/3010c8847d5c095309e4baaabe8c890d.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/2f95a08081a397312e393de8192ce4f0.jpg":{"id":7243,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Harvesting Lettuce, 1957","description":"Workers harvest winter lettuce at Kibubouri Bros. Greenhouse in Brooklyn Heights. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections | December 31, 1957 | Byron Filkins","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/2f95a08081a397312e393de8192ce4f0.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/a285383581201adf081af08104390626.jpg":{"id":7238,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Schaaf Road Greenhouses, 1970","description":"Brooklyn Heights was the center of the nation&#039;s largest concentration of greenhouses. The industry reached its peak between World War II and the 1960s. | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections | August 28, 1970 | Bernie Noble","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/a285383581201adf081af08104390626.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/75d617ac5469065fd8ef5160d5a4e04a.jpg":{"id":7248,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Green City Growers Greenhouse, 2013","description":"Decades after the most of large greenhouses disappeared along Schaaf Road in Brooklyn Heights, Cleveland&#039;s resurgence of urban farming has brought a renewal of greenhouse commerce. Seeded by the Evergreen Cooperative project, part of the Greater University Circle initiative to create jobs for inner-city residents in the neighborhoods on the fringes of the city&#039;s culture/ed/med center, the Green City Growers Cooperative built a 3.25-acre greenhouse in 2013 to grow Bibb and other leaf lettuces. In 2013 it produced three million heads of lettuce for grocery stores and food service companies within a 50-mile radius. | <a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/mmwhortgroup/8950334646/\">Flickr: MMW Horticulture Group</a> | March 27, 2013","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/75d617ac5469065fd8ef5160d5a4e04a.jpg"}}}