Joseph C. Dunkley (1836-1898)

The Celery King

Joseph Dunkley was not the first celery grower in Kalamazoo, but he certainly was one of the largest, which duly earned him the title of “The Celery King.” Dunkley’s celery fields covered nearly 80 acres of flatlands in the northern portion of the community and his products helped bring great acclaim to the “Celery City.”

“If the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is a public benefactor, much more is the one who introduces a new product into a region and there multiplies its production so as to make it one of the leading elements of wealth and comfort to the people and a substantial and enduring source of distinction to the section in which it brought forth.”

—David Fisher, 1906

Joseph Dunkley (1836-1898) was born on 6 October 1836 in Somersetshire, England. After completing his education overseas, Dunkley emigrated to America in 1853 at the age of 17 and lived for a few years in Canada where his father worked a building contractor.

In 1857, Dunkley moved to Kalamazoo and soon after married Mary Wilson (1835-1877), a native of Ireland who he had met while in Canada. The union produced two children, Robert and Samuel. During his first years in Kalamazoo, Dunkley worked for builders Bush & Paterson, and later became a small-scale gardener, both for himself and for others. In August 1867, Dunkley bought a pair of lots on Pearl street and soon found considerable success raising strawberries and other small fruits.

Dunkley Celery Company

In 1866, Dunkley bought land in the northern portion of Kalamazoo and began growing celery. He started small, but demand for his product grew steadily and he soon started shipping to other towns and cities across the state. His celery business soon saw great success in southern Ohio and in cities along the East Coast, and he eventually began shipping celery as far south as Florida.

Mary Dunkley died unexpectedly in 1877. The following year, Dunkley married Agnes Whillis (or Whyllis) (1846-1905), a Grand Rapids native of Scottish descent. Their marriage produced seven children, five of whom survived to adulthood: Myra, Clara, Laura, Charles, and Benjamin.

By the 1880s, Dunkley was said to be the largest celery grower in the world with 75 acres in the northern part of the city devoted to his “White Plume” and “Hartwell Perfection” varieties. Dunkley remained a major producer of celery throughout the 1880s as Kalamazoo celery gained nationwide notoriety. Dunkley’s “White Plume” variety took second prize at the 1889 Detroit Exposition. Shipments of 100,000 bunches or more were typical for each harvest, with prices ranging from 18¢ to 25¢ per dozen ($5.50-$7.65 in today’s dollars).

Dunkley Floral Company

In 1878, Joseph and Agnes Dunkley formed the Dunkley Floral Company and during the early months of 1884, he built an extensive array of greenhouses near their home on the northwest corner of Pearl and Dutton streets. In addition to their bourgeoning celery business, the Dunkleys became highly successful florists, and were known areawide for their magnificent roses and chrysanthemums. Dunkley was one of the first in the city to connect his businesses by telephone.

Dunkley Celery and Preserving Co.

Joseph Dunkley passed away in May 1898 at the age of 62. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery. By that time his son, Samuel J. Dunkley (1862-1923), had taken over the family celery business and was manufacturing all things celery… celery pickles, celery salad, chopped celery, canned celery, celery candy drops, celery tablets, celery mustard, celery remedies, and his famous “Celerytone” cure-all patent medicine. Dunkley was shipping these items, along with large quantities of canned fruit and preserves, via the Dunkley-Williams shipping line through South Haven and on to market in Chicago. In an attempt to complete his own direct shipping connection between Kalamazoo and Chicago, Samuel Dunkley would a few years later form the Kalamazoo, Lake Shore and Chicago Railway Company, known as the “Fruit Belt Line.”

Meanwhile, Agnes Dunkley kept the family floral business going until her own death in April 1905. The Dunkley Floral Company (a.k.a. Kalamazoo Floral Nursery) continued for a brief time under the management of William C. Cook, but eventually closed its doors in May 1907. The greenhouses were torn down a few months after. The Dunkley home at 622 Pearl Street was eventually demolished to make way for additional parking behind the Old Central High School.

Today, Dunkley Street runs off and on between North Edwards Street and North Westnedge Avenue, where Joseph Dunkley’s celery fields once flourished. In his 1906 Compendium of History & Biography of Kalamazoo County…, David Fisher noted that Joseph Dunkley, “who was one of the progressive and far-seeing businessmen of the community, took an active interest in all its means of development and progress, aiding every commendable project conducive to these ends.” A fitting epitaph it seems for “The Celery King.”

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, November 2024