How We've Grown
In 1960, Herman Woldhuis and his family moved from Chicago Heights to a 160-acre farm in Grant Park. They raised produce for wholesale, growing onion sets, sugar beets, and tomatoes for Campbell's Soup.
Herman and his sons soon moved into the egg business, peaking with 20,000 laying hens in the 70's. They specialized in a door-to-door delivery service throughout the southern suburbs of Chicago. Dan A. Woldhuis and his wife Janis bought out the egg business and farm from his father in 1979. On his egg routes, Dan would often sell the produce he raised in his oversized garden. They began to grow more vegetables and in 1980 built a small greenhouse to raise vegetable transplants for the field. During the 80's the business began to shift away from chickens and into retail "Farmers Market" produce. The family began producing a variety of fresh market produce and at its peak in the early 1990's was working 11 markets a week and raising over 80 different produce items.
| By 1989 the farm had 3 greenhouses and was using extra space to grow flowers. By this time, the egg business was gone and the flower business was small and local and provided some spring revenue to assist the produce business. In 1990, son Dan R. Woldhuis and son-in-law Jeff Huizenga joined in partnership with Dan "Sr." The flower business flourished, requiring additional greenhouse space for flower production. For 15 years in a row greenhouses have been added. Currently there are over 220,000 square feet of growing space in addition to an outdoor growing area. During the 1990's the 3 partners Incorporated and began using the name Sunrise Greenhouse to promote the changing business. In January of 2014, Dan Jr’s son, Trevor Woldhuis, joined the business, bringing the next generation into the family business.
Sunrise Greenhouse now specializes in quality bedding plants, hanging baskets, perennials, vegetable plants, trees, shrubs, and hardy fall mums. We grow almost everything from seed or propagation, enabling us to keep costs down and quality up, while passing the savings on to the customer. Our greenhouse facility is all under one roof for shopping convenience and no space is off-limits to the public. During the winter months, Sunrise Greenhouse produces seedling plants and rooted plugs for other greenhouses in the Chicagoland area as well as the Midwest region. The families of Woldhuis Farms Sunrise Greenhouse strive to conduct our business in obedience to God's Word and to praise and glorify the Father in all we do. We hope we can be a blessing to you as our customers as we work to serve you through our family business. In Service to the Creator, The Woldhuis Family |
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Woldhuis Family 2019 |
