The Schmidt family and nursery has a long history in the Madison area. The Schmidt Nursery's origins date back to 1884 when it was founded in Milwaukee, by R.O. Schmidt, a German immigrant. In 1922 the name was brought to Madison by his son R.W. Schmidt where it became a well established institution.
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(The above picture shows the intitial Madison nursery site located around 2488 Fish Hatchery Road (essentially where Popeyes Chicken is now located.)
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(Pictured above are two photos from the early 1950's. Left is the Madison Nurserymen Association. R.W. is seated second in from the right, and Harvey is standing on the far upper right. The photo on the right is Schmidt Nursery's trucks.)
In 1962 R.W. died and left his business to his son Harvey Schmidt, Sr. Harvey rapidly expanded the business which resulted in the need for a larger facility.
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(Pictured above are three photos from the 1960's. The upper left photo is Harvey Schmidt who at the time was the Chair for the Town of Madison. The upper right photo is taken at Ogg Hall on the UW campus, featuring a former Miss Wisconsin on a Schmidt Nursery job site. The lower picture is Schmidt Nursery located on Irish Lane.)
The new facility was located on the corner of Irish Lane and Fish Hatchery Road. The Schmidt name bore its presence on Irish Ln until 1988 when Harvey sold the Greenhouse and scaled back to a much smaller facility in rural Belleville. In 1997 Harvey helped his youngest sons, Eric and Tylor, found their small business. The Schmidt brothers' business began focusing on landscape maintenance while assisting Harvey with nursery and landscape construction operations. By 2001 the Schmidt brothers were managing their own landscape construction projects. To this day the Schmidt brothers manage operations out of their rural Belleville facility. Sadly in May of 2002 Harvey Schmidt passed away after a courageous battle with ALS.
A lot of things have changed through the years, but one thing has not, and that is the Schmidt commitment to customers, by providing them with the utmost quality of service and product. "We are not fully satisfied until you are."-Eric Schmidt