Steve VanderVeen: The Jonkers grow greenhouses, mini golf in Holland
From produce to plants to golf to greenhouses, the Jonkers’ business grew and evolved.
John B. Jonker was born in 1919; Marie in 1923. After World War II (1945), John purchased fruits and vegetables from farm wholesale markets in Benton Harbor and Grand Rapids. Then the married couple would sell them two ways. Mary staffed a card table in front of their house at 816 Lincoln Avenue, while John worked as a “huckster,” peddling produce through the streets of Holland from the back of his pickup truck, ringing a bell to get his customers’ attention.
By 1948 Marie, taking care of two small children and expecting a third, was outselling John. So, the couple borrowed $50 from John’s youngest brother Andy to build a small fruit and vegetable stand to replace the card table. They named it Jonker's Produce Market. Housewives looking for fruit and vegetables to can were their main customers. The Jonkers also offered flower plants, which they cut out of wooden flats with a trowel and wrapped in newspaper.
To support their growing business, John and Marie added lean-tos, awnings, coolers, and even a pigpen (for “recycling” over-ripe fruits & vegetables). Even when factoring in the sale of the pigs, the selling of plants was more profitable.
So, in 1956, John and Marie built a greenhouse out of window frames bartered from Stuart Padnos, who had scavenged them from a demolished General Motors factory. To supply their growing plant business John transported plants, shrubs, and trees from as far away as Alabama and Tennessee. In addition, the Jonkers grew trees, shrubs, rhododendrons, and perennials in their field behind their fruit stand. They also renamed their business Jonker’s Produce and Garden Center.
By 1961 the convenience of purchasing canned goods at supermarkets and the inconvenience of home fruit and vegetable preservation encouraged the Jonkers to discontinue their produce business. Instead, the Jonkers built more greenhouses, composted leaves for the City of Holland, mixed potting soil and bagged it, and grew many more plants. To reflect the change, John and Marie renamed their business Jonker’s Garden Center.
Then, the Jonkers asked: “How could we display our plants, attract more customers, and generate more repeat business?” With a miniature golf course! So, in 1962, with their son John mixing concrete in a small electric mixer and their son Jim troweling it smooth, they built “Nuttin’ but Puttin.’” That venture proved so successful that in 1966 they opened “Gofer Golf,” a nine-hole pitch and putt course. Jim built the greens. Remarkably, before then no one in the Jonker family played golf or knew anyone who did.
In the 1970s the Jonkers capitalized on houseplants and macramé. What started with one display table grew beyond five greenhouses. Supplying the business also involved trips to Florida, Texas, and California in search of foliage plants, cacti, and pottery. At the same time, John brought two new personalities into the business — Mingo, a Texas-born monkey, and Jedo, a parrot.
Meanwhile, sons Jim, after earning a degree and exploring secondary education, and David, after exploring factory work, had officially joined the company. By 1974, they had begun purchasing Jonkers Garden from their parents. Next, in response to customers’ requests, Jim began installing and maintaining tropical plants in Holland-area office buildings and restaurants.
In the 1980s, the brothers changed their strategy. Instead of buying plants to sell, they decided to focus more on growing them. So, they discontinued Gofer Golf and used the land for greenhouses. Throughout the decade, David built a new greenhouse every year. In 1991, to support the selling of plants, they also increased the size of their outdoor display area.
Subscribe: Get unlimited access to our local coverage
Then tragedy struck. In 1994, David died from complications associated with a stroke.
In 1996 Jim sold the interior landscape business and in 1997 converted Nuttin’ but Puttin’ into a much-needed parking lot.
The founders, John and Marie, died in 2004 and 2009, respectively. Their grandson, Dirk Jonker, Jim’s son, after managing several garden centers in California, joined the business in 2011. He had to readjust to both the seasons and to Holland, a resort town. Thus, Jonkers Garden has two busy periods: in May, when locals buy plants; and, in early summer, when people with second homes along the lakeshore arrive.
In 2020 Dirk purchased the business from Jim.
Information for this story comes from Robert Swierenga’s "Holland Michigan," Kelly Gates, Country Folks Grower, and conversations with Jim Jonker.
— Steve VanderVeen is a resident of Holland. You may reach him at skvveen@gmail.com. His book, "The Holland Area's First Entrepreneurs," is available at Reader’s World.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland History: The Jonkers grow greenhouses, mini golf in Holland
