Planters Seed Company

Located in a historic River Market structure built in 1880 by real estate magnate and philanthropist Thomas Swope, Planters Seed Company has operated here at 513 Walnut since 1927. Located in a row of original buildings that look much the same as they did in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, visitors to this part of the River Market can envision what it was like walking the streets of early Kansas City. This store retains its original wooden floors and fixtures and continues to offer a mixture of supplies for suburban and farming communities, from seeds to gardening supplies and hardware. The company was established in 1920 by German immigrant Henry Wertheim and had two prior locations before moving across the street to this location, where it has operated for over 100 years and even expanded into some of the neighboring buildings. Adapting to the changes in the River Market, whose produce vendors attract suburban shoppers, the store has become known for its variety of spices and lawn care products. In the late 19th century, this stretch of row buildings held rooming houses on the top floors and businesses such as a saloon, restaurant, and an oyster market on the first floor. Demonstrating the cyclical nature of history, this part of the city is once again a shopping destination for suburban residents who can arrive via streetcar and a walkable marketplace for those returning to the area as former factories and warehouses have been converted to loft apartments.

Planters Seed Company was founded by German immigrant Henry Wertheim in 1924. Wertheim was born in Lambsheim, Germany, in 1886 and immigrated to the United States in 1905. Wertheim worked his way to Independence, where he served as a clerk for the S. Bryson Ayers Flower and Seed Company, which owned farms in Independence and southern Kansas City. The company sold cut flowers and offered various seeds for Kansas City’s quickly growing residential communities. Initially operating at 11^th and McGee, the company started a second location in 1920 at 503 Walnut St., across from Kansas City’s River Market. Wertheim was made the manager of the new location.

The company faced stiff competition with four other seed vendors in the River Market area. In 1924, the company moved down the block, to 523 Walnut, to the former location of one of its competitors, the William F. Helm Commission Company. However, shortly after the move, the owners sold out to Wertheim, who rebranded the location as the Planters Seed Company. Not having much money to stock the store, Wertheim stuffed burlap sacks with paper to make the store look fuller. The store was a commission house at first, processing and selling seeds from area farmers and sharing the profits. However, Wertheim quickly expanded his product line to include plants and shrubs and built a loyal customer base with exceptional service.

In 1927, Wertheim moved the store to its current location at 513 Walnut, which had more space. Built in 1880 by Thomas Swope, this building had held several businesses over the decades, including a saloon, a restaurant, and an oyster market. The upper floors had been a rooming house for decades. Wertheim’s staff, led by his son-in-law Clifton Hall, the general manager, processed the bulk of the raw seed as it arrived from farmers. The store had a reputation for filling any order, whether it was for an ounce or a truckload of seed.

Over the decades, Wertheim’s customer base changed. When he opened the store in the Roaring 20s, ninety percent of his business was from farmers buying seed in bulk. As Kansas City’s suburbs grew to include larger lots, he saw a shift to customers from the city looking for garden seeds, lawncare products, and hardware. By the midcentury, suburban residents made up 90% of his business. Planters took over the neighboring buildings to offer more plants to meet their needs, knocking out spaces in the walls to give access between what was once separate businesses. The store started selling lawn fertilizers, pesticides, gardening tools, and flower pots. When people asked for hardware, they added a space for tools. The company had always carried a few spices, but they responded as customers asked for more variety. Today, the store carries over 300 varieties, and the store is just as much a destination for spices as it is for seeds and gardening supplies.

Wertheim sold Planters in 1980 and retired at age 94. The new owners admittedly knew little about the business, but they had always loved Planters and were determined to keep it a family-run company. Now more than 100 years old, Planters is what it has always been: a seed company and a cornerstone of Kansas City’s River Market business district. Customers range from farmers buying bulk seed to businessmen stopping by to buy a garden hose to tourists stopping in during a visit to the City Market to check out the full line of spices and gourmet candies. It is not unusual to see people who came to planters with their grandparents now bringing their own grandchildren to the store. For many Kansas Citians, Planters is more than a store; it is a destination that offers continuity between the past and present, complete with the original wooden floor and fixtures that make this a living museum of early 20th century City Market history. Walnut Street is lined with original buildings on this block, and it is easy to imagine an earlier age when the streets of downtown Kansas City were lined for miles with wall-to-wall buildings. Even the scales used to measure seed by the ounce are original to the building. An antique cash register on display sits as an artifact of times past alongside a variety of modern products.

"Seed Firm Retains Old-Fashioned Atmosphere." Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) October 29th, 1986. .130.

"Planters company to 513 Walnut." Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) June 10th, 1928. , D sec.2.

Baumgardner, Terri. "There's the rub -and seeds and spices - Planters offers that and much more since the 1920s.." Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) December 2nd, 2003. , D sec.20.

"50 Years on Walnut." Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) July 29th, 1973. , E sec.2.

"Modern Front for Planters." Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) May 29th, 1966. , F sec.8.

"Seed Firm Expands as Business Grows." Kansas City Post (Kansas City, Mo.) April 19th, 1922. .14.

"He Had Run His Race." Kansas City Journal (Kansas City, Mo.) July 16th, 1899. .3.

"Another Suicide." Kansas City Weekly Journal (Kansas City, Mo.) August 27th, 1885. .8.

"Oysters Wholesale and Retail." Kansas City Journal (Kansas City, Mo.) October 4th, 1883. .7.