Frederick D. Clavey in his nursery, circa 1910. Dunn Museum Collections.
One of the best known nurseries on the North Shore was the Clavey Nursery of Highland Park, founded in 1885 by Frederick Clavey. Later the company was known as Ravinia Nurseries.
Clavey started his business by selling trees off farm lots. To Clavey, the best trees came from fields where cattle had nibbled on them making them trimmed and bushy.
This estimate (above) for work at the Rothschild home in Highland Park includes extensive sodding and the planting of nine spireas all for less than $100.
Clavey started his business by selling trees off farm lots. To Clavey, the best trees came from fields where cattle had nibbled on them making them trimmed and bushy.
This estimate (above) for work at the Rothschild home in Highland Park includes extensive sodding and the planting of nine spireas all for less than $100.Trees were dug by hand and transported by horsedrawn wagon. Clavey wasn't just a nurseryman, he was a landscaper, too.
This business card shows an impressive workforce. Dunn Museum M-89.2
Ravinia Nurseries Fall 1926 and Spring 1927 catalogue. 
Page views from the 1926-27 catalogue. Dunn Museum M-89.2
A 1923 advertisement for the nursery stated: "Trees selected with care as to variety and placed with relation to the house and views, give a feeling of quietness and an appearance of permanency to home grounds."
The ad went on to detail the nursery's growing practices: "Trees in our nurseries are planted far apart so as to develop a good top, and are frequently transplanted so as to produce a fine root system of fibrous roots. Because of this our extra-large size trees will transplant successfully and obviate years of waiting for their shade and proper effect."
Large tree for "immediate effect" being transplanted at a North Shore estate, circa 1930. Dunn Museum M-89.2
Clavey Nursery trees on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Dunn Museum M-89.2
In the late 1950s, the nursery provided trees to beautify Michigan Avenue in Chicago (left). The Clavey's also planted the ivy for the now famous "ivy wall" at Wrighley Field.
By 1970, Ravinia Nurseries' was headquartered in Lake Villa, selling evergreens, trees, shrubs and vines. They have since gone out of business.
By 1970, Ravinia Nurseries' was headquartered in Lake Villa, selling evergreens, trees, shrubs and vines. They have since gone out of business.
3 comments:
Amazing to find out one of my relatives planted the Ivy at Wrigley Field. As a life long Cubs fan that's pretty awesome.
My Grandfather, Roy F. Clavey, Sr., was President of Clavey Nurseries at the time the ivy was planted at Wrigley Field. His daughter, my mother, donated many artifacts from Clavey Nurseries to the Lake County Museum. My fathers, two uncles and my brother worked at the nursery when it was located in Lake Villa, on Knowles Road. A subdivision is there now, with street names reflective of Clavey Nurseries. I worked at the nursery during the summers, as a teenager.
My grandfather, Harry Theodore Clavey, was one of four sons of FD Clavey. Elmer is credited with planting the Boston Ivy and his son, Gordon, in September, 1937 at Wrigley Field. FD died in 1930. Harry T. died in 1981.
You can still buy Clavey's dwarf honeysuckle bushes (Lonicera x xylosteoides) as it is a hardy little bush and not an exotic invasive plant. It is a dense multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. It is named for this family.
He had lots of stories about Clavey's Ravinia Nurseries, but one other fun fact about my grandfather was that when he was a boy, he travelled on a ship with FD back to Germany to visit relatives. This was prior to WWI.
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