The Business: Francis Xavier Hillenmeyer, born in France, emigrated to the United States and eventually settled in Lexington, Ky. In 1841, he planted fruit trees from his native country. The company’s nursery operation still exists in the same location, notes fifth-generation president Stephen Hillenmeyer.
Under second-generation leader Hector Francis Hillenmeyer, the business began growing ornamental trees in addition to fruit trees. Third-generation leaders Louis and Walter Hillenmeyer (Hector’s two youngest sons) focused the enterprise on ornamentals and built up the mail-order business. During the Depression, Hillenmeyer entered into a contract with Sears, Roebuck & Company to fill nursery orders.
The fourth-generation leaders were Louis Hillenmeyer Jr. and his brother Robert Hillenmeyer, along with Walter Hillenmeyer Jr. and his brother Donald Hillenmeyer. The fourth generation expanded the landscape operation and started a retail garden center in 1951. They also expanded into maintenance of industrial properties. Donald left in the early 1950s to form his own company, focused on propagation and growing. In 1964, Walter left to go into banking.
Louis Jr.’s sons Stephen, Louis III and Christopher bought the business from their uncle Robert in 1985. The fifth generation brought the business into the electronic age. Chris and Stephen bought Louis III’s shares in 1992, and Stephen bought Chris’s half of the company in 2001.
The company has exited retail sales and now focuses on lawn care and maintenance for the residential, commercial and equine markets. Hillenmeyer also operates two franchises, Weed Man Lawn Care and The Mosquito Authority. Focusing on services that provide a recurring income stream will better position the business for the future, Stephen Hillenmeyer says. The company employs about 250 people, many of them part-time, during the peak season; in the winter, that number drops to 70 or 80.
Over the years, members of the family have been active in national professional associations. Third-generation member Walter Hillenmeyer, fourth-generation member Louis Hillenmeyer Jr. and Louis Hillenmeyer III each served as president of the American Association of Nurserymen (now the American Nursery and Landscape Association). “We were involved in a bigger picture than just what was going on in Lexington, so that exposed us to what was up and coming,” Stephen Hillenmeyer says. “We saw opportunities that related to the green industry, and I think that history, and the exposure to education, helped us pick and choose where we thought we could create [a business model] that would be more sustainable.”
The business once encompassed several thousand acres, some of which the family leased out. The company’s former office building was once owned by Robert Smith Todd, father of Mary Todd Lincoln and father-in-law of President Abraham Lincoln. Over the years, land was used to buy out family members as they exited the business. In keeping with its new business model, the company’s holdings have been reduced to 16 acres.
Stephen, the youngest of nine children, grew up in a house on the nursery’s land and started out in the business by picking onions at age 10. “Back when I was a kid, we still had mules plowing the fields,” recalls Stephen, 58. “It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come from that.”
The Family: Stephen’s sons Chase and Seth, representing the sixth generation, work in the family business. Chase, 31, joined the company full-time in 2007. He spent four years doing account management for the Hillenmeyer side of the business and then became general manager of the Weed Man and Mosquito Authority franchises. He is now preparing to move into a general manager role for the entire operation, ceding his Weed Man and Mosquito Authority duties to younger brother Seth, 27.
Seth worked for two years in commercial banking in Chicago before joining the family enterprise as sales manager for the Weed Man franchise.
Seth says it wasn’t until he went away to college at Miami University of Ohio and compared notes with classmates that he began to realize his family’s business had an exceptionally long history. “There’s definitely a sense of pride in what’s come before us, and wanting to continue that legacy on and grow it for many generations to come,” he says.
Nearly everyone in Lexington has some connection to the business or the family, Chase says. “For most of the people in the region, that’s where they got their Christmas tree, and it was a pretty fond memory for them,” Chase says.
The Celebration: On August 12, the Hillenmeyer family hosted a thank-you celebration for employees; the next day, another party was held for customers, family and friends, vendors and civic leaders.
The company produced a video featuring interviews with family members, friends, customers and longtime employees. (One of the longest-tenured employees, Stephen Hillenmeyer’s sister Beth Weissmueller, retired last year after 43 years with the company.) Interviewees were asked to share their favorite memories of their association with the business. Stephen Hillenmeyer and his two sons were interviewed together, discussing their family and business relationship. Parts of the video will be posted on the company’s new website, scheduled for launch later this year.
The interview footage will be saved in the Hillenmeyer archive collection at the University of Kentucky. The collection, donated to the university in 1991, includes the family’s personal and business papers and memorabilia. Among the items in the collection are bills and receipts, catalogs, ads, legal papers, weather records, photos, certificates and plaques.
A large timeline display was created for the lobby of Hillenmeyer’s office, highlighting important milestones in the history of the business.
The company will be donating landscape services to the historic Fayette County Courthouse, a downtown Lexington landmark that is undergoing a $30 million renovation, “in recognition of our being part of the community for as long as we have,” Stephen says.
The Planning: The Hillenmeyers began thinking about the anniversary celebration in October 2015. Plans began to solidify in February 2016, when Stephen, Chase and Seth, along with Vitale Buford, who holds the title of employee and strategy partner at Hillenmeyer, “sat down and talked through what we thought we would do” to mark the milestone, Stephen says. Following the February meeting, requests for proposals went out to marketing firms to help coordinate the celebration.
Stephen says he used his memories of the 150th and 125th anniversary celebrations as a guide in planning the festivities to mark the company’s 175th. He says it was especially important to him to collect as many interviews as possible for the video because many of those who participated in the earlier celebrations have since passed away, and their memories of the past have been lost. “That’s something I regret,” he says.
The Reflections: Seth says that looking at the pictures in the lobby timeline display and listening to the stories recounted by participants in the video project have brought home to him the significance of the 175-year milestone. “It’s hard to grasp until you start to look at the pictures and look at the way we used to do business, and [listen] to the stories that people told. . . about the way things were when they came up in the business,” he says. “The celebration, and reading more about the history, has brought even more pride and more understanding and appreciation for the history that we have.”
Over the last 25 to 30 years, Stephen says, the business has changed more than it had in all the previous generations combined. “Had we continued to do what we did when it was started, we’d be out of business,” he reflects. He says he’s excited about “our ability to change and sustain [the business] in a different way, to be able to keep the business alive. And I’m probably even more excited, just because of having both of my kids involved in the business.”
Today, Stephen says, “The business is growing, and we’re moving in different directions, and the culture is very strong, and the history’s great, and we are reinventing ourselves, and the next generation is poised, and I’m very excited.”
The Advice: Stephen Hillenmeyer advises business families planning milestone celebrations to “try to think about where you were, and think about the people who helpd you get to where you are. Get as many of them as can be involved. Because when those people are no longer around, that history, if it’s not documented in some form, [will be lost]. I wish I’d thought to do this 25 years ago.” He says he wishes his sons could hear the reminiscences of family members and other stakeholders who have passed away. “Keep that in perspective,” he advises.
Stephen has some other suggestions as well: “Start as early as you can,” he says. “Have some professional help to think things through and help you plan it out. And then tie that to some form of a budget. It can get out of hand, because you want to do everything. So you have to think that through a bit.”
Copyright 2016 by Family Business Magazine. This article may not be posted online or reproduced in any form, including photocopy, without permission from the publisher. For reprint information, contact bwenger@familybusinessmagazine.com.