McIntire's: Sharing Blooms in Callaway County for 90 years

According to the calendar, spring is here. While the weather can’t make up its mind about temperatures, nature is bursting out in spring colors. McIntire Florist has been spreading colorful flowers and plants throughout the county since 1932. The Florist Shop opened during the height of the Great Depression as an expansion of the McIntire greenhouses. Harry’s wife, Elizabeth “Beth” McIntire, took charge of the flower shop. The McEntire’s opened the flower shop in a storefront on Court Street. Within a few years, it outgrew the storefront, and the shop moved into a log cabin at 617 Court Street. McIntire Florist moved into its present location at 715 Market Street in 1946. A replica of the log cabin on Court Street was built on the corner of St. Louis Avenue and Market Street with a small greenhouse attached to it.

John William “JW” McIntire

John William McIntire sowed his first seeds in the flower/plant business in 1873 when he started a greenhouse business near the McIntire Ice Plant. The greenhouse was a sideline to the ice business. Still, eventually, John William and his son Harry sold the ice business and devoted their attention full time to flowers and plants. The greenhouses were later moved behind the McIntire home on Hollyhock Drive, where they remained until they were torn down in 1986. For many years this was the place to go to get your garden plants and spring flowers, Easter lilies, geraniums, rose bushes and shrubs, and poinsettias at Christmas. For over 100 years, the McIntire family worked in the flower business, first raising flowers, then raising and arranging flowers and ending with arranging flowers.

The florist shop was recently sold to Shauna and Clint Smith. They have retained the name McIntire Florist and Sara Beth, a fourth-generation McIntire who still works at the flower shop. We hope the Smiths will continue the family tradition and keep the florist business in their family for many generations.