From about 1915 to 1947, two florist shops and the two families that owned them occupied all but four properties on Heading Avenue between Western and Cedar Avenues. The lives of the original owners of these two competing businesses—William Geier and Peter Becker—and the lives of three generations of their respective families became entwined as neighbors and friends. All of this property between Western and Cedar had been farmland owned by Charles E. Clark and then Alice Clark; undoubtedly, West Peoria’s Clark and Alice Avenues were named for them. This property was not subdivided until the early 1900s.
Sometime between 1910 and 1915, William Geier—a German immigrant—and his wife Elizabeth (Lizzy) established their business on Heading Avenue, which was a dirt road until, at least, 1919. Geier Florist, West Peoria’s oldest commercial enterprise, was owned and operated for over seventy-five years successively by three generations of the same family. Even the present owner, Dennis Beaupre, has ties to the business’s founding family.
The original Geier flower shop (as seen in the picture) was a small building—located at 116 (1924) Heading— sandwiched between the two houses at 114 (1922) Heading and 118 (1928) Heading Avenue. A glass greenhouse occupied the space behind the flower shop. Today both the original shop and the greenhouse are gone; only a tree marks the location of the original structure that housed Geier Florist.
By 1915 another German immigrant, Peter Becker, and his wife Mary established another floral shop—also with a glass greenhouse—at 122 (2002) Heading just three doors up from the original Geier Florist. Becker had already established a floral business in Peoria at 1309 Third Street in 1910 before moving his business to Heading.
The Geiers built and lived in the house at 118 (1928) Heading, and the Beckers built and lived in a house at 126 (2006) Heading. Peter Becker had also built the house at 114 (1922) Heading, where his sisters—Frances and Katherine—lived.
Before building their own homes and opening their own flower shops, both Geier and Becker had been employed as sextons of St. Joseph’s Cemetery and lived in a house on Heading that was owned by the Catholic Cemetery Association. While serving as the cemetery’s sexton from 1905 until 1913, Geier lived in a house on Heading on the cemetery property. Probably around 1914, that same house was actually moved across the street and placed on a lot also owned by the cemetery at 120 (2000) Heading, where Geier continued to live for a short time. In fact, for several years, Geier was the only resident listed on Heading from Western Avenue to Cedar Avenue. By 1915 Becker replaced Geier as the sexton and moved into the same house at 120 (2000) Heading after Geier moved into his own newly-built home. The house at 120 Heading stood on that lot until about 1948, when it was torn down.
Undoubtedly, the connection of both men to St. Joseph’s played a role in their choice of a site for their businesses. The location of both of these floral shops provided a convenient stop for visitors to St. Joseph’s Cemetery (established in 1865) to pick up flowers to place on the graves of their loved ones.
According to Peter Becker’s granddaughter, Skip Cravens, both florists not only sold fresh flowers but also did horticultural work—planting flowers, designing flower gardens, etc.—throughout the community.
Of Peter and Mary Becker’s four children (Charles, Marie, Adeline, and Joseph), Charles, the oldest, worked with his father at the business. Sometime before Peter’s death in 1942, Charles was operating the business by himself.
Charles, his wife Mary, and their children (Skip, Sharon, and Joseph) once lived on Kellogg near Cedar before responsibilities at the florist convinced them to move into one of the Becker houses, the one at 114 (1922) Heading.
Eventually, the Charles Becker family moved into the Becker home at 126 (2006) Heading, the one that Peter Becker had built for his family. According to Skip Becker Cravens, at that time that house was located next door to the floral shop. A garden occupied the space between the house and Cedar. However, that Becker house was subsequently moved (probably in the 1950s) to its present location at 2012 Heading. Today there is a parking lot between the shop and the old Becker house, which now sits at the corner of Heading and Cedar. The Charles Becker family had also lived in a home at 204 Heading.
Skip Cravens, who had lived on Heading from age four to seventeen, left the area with her family in 1947 but soon returned in 1948 to Peoria, where her father established a new florist shop in Peoria. Today Skip and her husband Harry live nearby in Peoria’s West Bluff area. Having a passion for the history of West Peoria, Skip has recorded many of her memories and those passed down to her by her grandparents and parents (some of which she recently shared with the West Peoria News).
Skip recalls the time in August, 1943, when strong hail broke over two-thirds of the glass in both the Becker and Geier greenhouses. The glass panes had to be replaced. Also, the soil in the beds inside the greenhouses had to be hauled outside, sifted, and returned to the beds.
During this same time period (1915 to 1947), William Geier had continued to run Geier Florist until his death in 1938. William’s wife Elizabeth died in 1940. The Geiers had four children: one son Charles and three daughters Anna, Clara, and Helen. By the time that William died, the Geiers’ daughter Helen had married Emil Henrich (also a German immigrant), who took over the operation of the business.
In about 1947, a few years after the Geier family business had been passed on to Helen and Emil Henrich, Charles Becker decided to give up his family’s business. Almost all of the Becker property on Heading was purchased by Helen and Emil Henrich.
Thus, the era of two Heading Avenue florists ended. By 1950 both the original Geier Florist shop and the original Becker florist shop had been torn down. The present Geier Florist was then built at its present location at 2002 Heading, the site of the original Becker shop.
The large antique wooden cooler housed inside the present Geier Florist (visible from the front entrance) was actually moved from the original Geier shop at 116 Heading. The cooler, built in the 1930s by Herman Henrich—the brother of Emil Henrich, Sr.— was originally cooled with ice but in later years was updated to be powered by electricity.
Emil Henrich, Jr., as a young child, remembers watching the cooler being rolled down the street from its old location into his mother and father’s new floral shop.
Helen and Emil’s two children—Betty Ann (Mrs. Leon Robey) and Emil Jr.—had begun helping out at the flower shop when they were very young. After the death of Emil Henrich, Sr., in 1979, Emil, Jr., took over the operation of Geier Florist. Like the previous owners of the Becker Florist and of the Geier Florist, Emil, Jr., and his wife Joan also made their residence on Heading Avenue, living in the previous Becker home that had been moved from 2006 Heading to 2012 Heading by 1957. Helen Geier Henrich, who lived until 1992, began working at Geier Florist in 1921 as her father’s helper and continued as a helper both to her husband and later to her son. Emil, Jr., is well-known in West Peoria, having served this community as a business owner, a resident, and a member of the West Peoria fire department.
By the time Emil, Jr., was ready to retire, the three Henrich children—Michelle, Mike, and David—already busy with their own lives and careers, were not interested in maintaining the family business.
However, in 1970 Michelle Henrich, then a student at the Academy of Our Lady High School, had met Dennis Beaupre, a student at Spalding Institute. Michelle asked her dad if Dennis could earn some extra cash for Christmas by delivering flowers.
In the following years, Dennis continued delivering flowers and scraping and painting greenhouse bars during summer vacations from school. Meanwhile, he became close to the family, coming to see Emil as more of a father than as an employer. Eventually, when Emil needed a skilled floral designer, he gave Dennis the opportunity that led to his permanent career in the floral business. Emil sent Dennis to an expensive design school in Chicago, where Dennis learned his trade as an accomplished floral designer. For the next eighteen years, Dennis was Emil’s right-hand man.
After working with Emil for over twenty years, Dennis purchased Geier Florist on January 1, 1991. One of Emil Henrich's favorite sayings is, "I taught him all he knows and he still don't know nothing!” However, Dennis credits Emil with teaching him to run a flower shop and to be a successful businessman.
Since 1991 Dennis Beaupre has redesigned the front of the building to resemble a New Orleans storefront and extended the parking lot. Of course, to keep up with the modern world of technology, Dennis has developed a computerized bookkeeping system.
Dennis’ most recent and largest project—a new modern greenhouse—involved the consideration of many plans, designs, and then bids for the new structure. Finally, with the acquisition of the necessary permits, the actual work began on June 23, 1997, with the demolition of the old greenhouse. By July 22, a new safer and more economical greenhouse, made of galvanized steel and covered with a very sturdy material called Lexan, replaced the old one. The old dirt floor was replaced with concrete.
Today Dennis and his wife Lisa, who helps with the day to day operation of the business, continue the tradition of making this business a family affair. As the Geiers, Henrichs, and Beckers before them, the Beaupres enjoy the opportunity to serve West Peoria and appreciate the support of their customers.
Thanks go to both Skip Cravens and Emil Henrich, Jr., for their input into this article. The West Peoria News hopes to draw on their great wealth of West Peoria memories for future articles.
