The History of  Rolling Ridge Nursery

And the Christmas Store

     In 1894, Henry Schulz stabled his wagon team at the corner of Gore and Marshall, in the middle of pastureland.  People would come out by train from the city of St. Louis to hire Henry’s team to move their goods, furniture, and families “to the country”, which Webster Groves was considered at that time.

     In 1959, Henry’s son-in-law, James McMillan,Sr., inherited the stable.  Along with his sons, Sandy and Jim Jr., they began a small business first selling compost and straw, then evolving into what today is known as Rolling Ridge Nursery.  Webster Groves was not considered the country anymore so the nursery business grew.  But the stable pretty much stayed the same, only without the horses.

     It was Christmas time 1960 when Henry’s daughter, Harriet McMillan, set out a bale of straw on Gore, then tied it up with a pretty red ribbon in hopes that folks passing by would come in to the stable for Christmas wreaths and holly.  That is how, years ago, the Christmas Store in Rolling Ridge began.

     You can still see the old stable with 2 foot thick limestone walls, quarried nearby in a previous century.  Ceiling and floor joists are oak timbers, a foot thick, that sit on hand-forged steel plates.