RACINE - Millers Flowers on Nov. 16 will celebrate one century in business with a look back at how the industry has changed.

Co-owners Hilary and Mark Krejcha have looked at photos to re-create floral arrangements from every decade since 1908.

"It'll be like walking through 100 years of floral beauty," Hilary said.

Over time, she said, "The flowers stayed the same, but the techniques changed." In the early years florists would use what was available at the time, such as chicken wire and pincushions, Krejcha explained.

Another change over the years was the availability of more types of flowers. "Flowers were always seasonal, and there wasn't the variety we have now," she said.

Krejcha's grandparents, Robert and Ethel Miller, moved from Milwaukee to Racine in 1908 to run a greenhouse at 1848 Asylum Ave. That site is now Lee's True Value Hardware, 1848 Taylor Ave.

Having run a flower shop in Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel, Ethel Miller had built a reputation for floral decorating and design, Krejcha said.

She said her grandmother, having been transplanted to Racine, quickly tired of being "out in the country," so she rented a wood-frame Downtown store, where she opened Racine Floral Co.

In 1916 the Millers had that building torn down and built the present three-story brick

building.

"The front of the store," Krejcha said, "had a spectacular art glass window which was designed by my grandmother, as were the art glass doors and panels."

Krejcha's father, Bob Miller, was five years old at the time and later told his children stories about flowers being delivered by horse-drawn wagon.

One of his stories, Krejcha said, was that one delivery horse "was so smart, all you had to do was whisper the address in his ear, and he would take the driver with flowers right there."

The store was remodeled in 1928, including hand-wrought iron and intricate lights that resembled piano keys. Most tables still in use, Krejcha said, are the wrought-iron tables that Ethel designed.

"By then," she added, "so many people were calling Racine Floral 'Millers' that they added that to their sign and stationery."

Krejcha said her grandmother designed weddings for prominent people all around the region including Lake Geneva, Chicago and even Atlantic City.

"In those days," she said, "florists relied on local greenhouses for all their plants and flowers. In the summer they would buy from local residents eager to sell the beautiful flowers they grew in their gardens."

Flowers were also delivered by train from Milwaukee

greenhouses.

Bob Miller learned the

business and studied floriculture at Cornell University. But his first love was music, and he played in traveling bands until coming back to Racine in 1937 to join his mother in the flower business.

During World War II he worked building airplanes at Case by night and in the flower shop by day, Krejcha said.

She started helping in the family business during the late 1960s, at her mother's suggestion, to keep her father from overworking himself. "That was it for me; I loved it," she said.

One day, her date, Mark Krejcha, stopped at the shop to pick her up. But Hilary's work, hand-tying cemetery bouquets, wasn't finished, and her father wouldn't let her go.

"Mark wanted to help us, saying it didn't look too hard," she said. "He was a natural and even devised an easier way for us to do them." That was the start of his career at Millers Flowers.

If You Go

WHAT: Open house, Millers Flowers

The event will feature 100 years of memorabilia and re-creations of floral arrangements from every decade of the past century.

WHERE: 219 Sixth St.

WHEN: Noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16