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George Watt Park
 George Watt Park,
at the age 16, raised flowers in a corner of his mother’s garden and
sold the seeds to friends and neighbors. The George W. Park Seed Co.,
Inc. was established in 1868 and the first printed catalog was 8 pages
in size.
The company sold flower and vegetable seeds both wholesale and retail.
In 1871, Park started the publishing
"The
Floral Gazette" whose name was changed to "Park’s Floral Magazine" in 1877. In
November of 1905, 400,296 copies of the magazine were mailed out.
In 1882, Park fulfilled a life-long dream of
obtaining a
college education and enrolled at Michigan State
University graduating four years later with a degree in horticulture.
He traveled extensively across the U.S., Mexico and Europe and during one of his
trips he stopped to visit a South Carolina
county home demonstration agent named Mary Barratt. Mary had written him for advice.
A relationship began, they were married in 1918, and moved to Dunedin, Florida.
The
climate there was not suited for the seed business, so they relocated to Greenwood,
South Carolina. When George died in 1935, his wife Mary ran the
business until his son George Barratt Park assumed the role.
George B.
Park died in 1967 and his brother William John Park took over as head of the business.
William continued until 1990 when he became Chairman of the Board and
was succeeded by his nephew, J. Leonard Park, and niece, Karen
Park Jennings. J. Leonard was succeeded as CEO and President by his sister,
Karen 5.
Sources:
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George W. Park
- Legacy of Leadership
-
Who Owns What
-
Barratt
Park, III
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