Baltimore Florists' Exchange - An American First

Florists' Exchange Building,
Corner of Franklin and St. Paul Streets
Aug 2013

   The now abandoned building at 17 E. Franklin (southwest corner of Franklin and St. Paul Streets) was built on a lot that was once owned by the Safe Deposit and Trust Company.  The lot was purchased for $6,000 by the Baltimore Florists' Exchange building committee in January 1906 for the purpose of erecting their own building sizable enough to accommodate its cadre of 40 members that was too large for its 505 North Eutaw Street location.

   Architect J. Edward Laferty was commissioned and construction was completed during the late summer of 1906 by William H. Porter & Son for the sum of $15,000 according to Baltimore Sun articles of the time such that by November 13-16, the Gardeners' Club was able to hold its annual chrysanthemum and horticultural exhibition on the first and second floors. In addition to photographic representations, live palms and ferns were shown, but the most of the exhibition was devoted to public showing of chrysanthemums, roses, and evergreens.  Contests for "best in vase," "best brides' hand bouquet," "best distinct design," "best
basket," and "best wreath"where judged and yielded prizes of $1 to $10.

   The Florists' Exchange roots had been planted as early as 1889 during a time when Baltimore had a plentitude of hobby and interest clubs.  In the area of horticulture, there existed a Florists' Club, Gardeners' Club, and a Maryland Horticultural Society of which an Annapolis florist by the name of Edwin A. Seidewitz had been on the Executive Committee.

   While the many Baltimore clubs served their purpose of bringing people of the day together having a common interest in cultivating or appreciating flowers, Mr. Seidewitz, who had become a well respected florist in Baltimore realized a more specialized need for florists within the trade. Unlike the He conceptualized the idea of a mutual florists' association where local floral dealers could conduct wholesale business by distributing their stock amongst each other regardless of the size of their dealership.

   As a result of this idea, the Baltimore Florists' Exchange was formed having elected the man to conceptualize it as its President.   By February 1890, the Exchange was incorporated and located its first offices in the basement of a building at 120 N. Liberty Street (and later the 505 N. Eutaw Street location) as a depot for cut flowers exclusive to dealers.  It was said to be the first organization in America dedicated to the exchange of trees, plants, flowers, and seeds in addition to the general sharing of horticultural knowledge among horticulturalists and tradesmen who bought and sold flowers.

The hall space inside the
Florists' Exchange

   The building's upper floor was at times used by the Gardners' and Florists' Clubs, often interspersed by meeting locations for everything from lectures on the writings of Edward FitzGerald by the Baltimore Progressive Thought Center (The Sun, April 1908) to a temporary meeting location for the First Spiritual Church (The Sun, Sep 1908), Royal Order of the Moose (The Sun, Jan 1909), National Union (The Sun, June 1909), Knights of Phythia (The Sun, Dec 1909), Retail Grocers' Association (The Sun, Oct 1916), International Bible Students' Association (The Sun, Jul 1917).

   In the preparation of this article, it was perplexing that, beyond 1918, no public documentation exists on the building or the Florists' Exchange itself until May 1942 when it was sold into private hands in the amount of $25,000.

   Perhaps, for historical completeness, we have to pick up with the life of Mr. Seidewitz.  Things were well for Mr. Seidewitz who had become an accomplished Baltimore florist, considered one of the "livest" men in the organization he became President of the Rotary Club, and one of the most prosperous citizens of Baltimore.  By April 1890, he married Adele Wattensheidt and the next year cited in the "Annals of Horticulture" as having registering the introduction of 33 new varieties with the American Chrysanthemum Society: one was called the Adele and the other the Lord Baltimore. Though born in Baltimore County in 1866, he was a resident of Annapolis and eventually served as Mayor of that city from July 1899 to 1901.

Hotel Junker
22 E. Fayette Street

   Unfortunately, Mr. Seidewitz became a cruel victim of a form of bullying by Baltimore Society during the War I period. According to the book "The Illusion of Victory: America in WWI" by Thomas J. Fleming, it all began one night at the Hotel Junker (currently at 22 E. Fayette St.), "shortly after war was declared, the florist met some officers from several German ships that had been trapped in Baltimore's harbor since 1914. They were in a gloomy mood, lamenting their long separation from friends and family and the prospect of internment as enemy aliens until the war ended. Seidewitz bough them beer, and they drank together.  Touched by their plight, the florist kissed one of them on the forehead in an attempt to comfort the man. Word soon swept Baltimore that Seidewitz had "kissed a German." His floral business collapsed. He was expelled from the Rotary Club, after directors refused to let him speak to the members in his own defense."

   Apparently, according to those that knew him intimately, he was said to have suffered for some time with mental and nervous disorders since the United States entered the war, and that conditions had preyed on his mind.  Saddest of all, was his fate when at 52 years old Edwin, on August 24, 1918 he decided upon suicide with a revolver while his family was downstairs in their home on Old Pimlico Road.  It would appear that with his life, so went the Baltimore Florists' Exchange.  Its success, however, having been demonstrated by florists in Baltimore, precipitated similar exchange organizations in Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago.

(Sources: Baltimore Sun Newspaper articles; Annals of Horticulture; "The Illusion of Victory: America in WWI" by Thomas J. Fleming;