About
About Southwestern Nurseries
Ask About Same-Day Service | Free Estimates | Extensive Selection of Trees
Ask About Same-Day Service
Free Estimates
Extensive Selection of Trees
History of Southwestern Nurseries
Established in 1887
John Walter Riggs, the founder of Southwestern Nurseries, moved with his family from Indiana to the plains of Kansas in 1885. He settled in Waterloo, KS, which is located approximately 10 miles east of Kingman and 30 miles west of Wichita. He was a school teacher by trade but also had a thorough knowledge of trees, shrubs, and horticulture.
South Central Kansas was, at that time, a grass prairie with very few trees except in cities, towns, and homesteads. John missed the trees of Indiana, so he began obtaining shade and fruit trees to test their adaptability to the Kansas Plains. Seeing the success he was having, neighbors ask him to get some trees for them.
In 1887, John began the commercial nursery operations of growing, buying, and selling trees to neighbors and the public. His knowledge of trees led him to experiment with a wide variety of shade, fruit, and nut trees. He planted several varieties of oak, maple, birch, elm, mulberry, locust, sycamore, pine, juniper, arborvitae, and fruit trees with notable success.
About 1900, the U. S Department of Agriculture learned of John’s successful growing of tree varieties that were thought to be unable to adapt to the harsh conditions of the Kansas prairie. The department sent representatives to visit John to learn about his operations, knowledge of horticulture, and trees that he was successfully growing. The result of this meeting was that John was commissioned as an experimenter for the Department of Agriculture with the right to import trees from all over the United States as well as from foreign countries with which the U. S. had trade relations.
During his tenure with the department, John imported trees from all over the US as well as from China, Japan, Israel, Europe, and England. Some of the varieties of exotic and unusual trees that he successfully experimented with include Japanese tree lilac, Chinese pistachio, Japanese eucomia (hardy rubber tree), English elm, English oak, bald cypress, several pine, oak, and maple varieties, juniper, and arborvitae.
In January of 1930, the home of John Riggs burned to the ground, and all was lost including John and all of his records. John’s son, Cecile W. Riggs, commonly known as Cap from his being commissioned as a captain in the United States Cavalry, assumed the proprietorship of Southwestern Nurseries. In that year, Cap moved the business operations to Kingman while continuing to grow nursery stock at the original nursery site in Waterloo, which is currently known as Riggs Arboretum and under the ownership of John Riggs, the grandson of the founder.
In 1941, Cap acquired the property at 625 East D Avenue in Kingman, where Southwestern Nurseries is currently located. He continued to operate the business until his death in April of 1961. Blanche, his wife, assumed ownership and operated the business until their son Roy Riggs purchased the business in January 1974.
Blanche continued to be an important part of the business until she died in 1993. At Southwestern Nurseries, we have continued to obtain and test the success of new and different varieties of trees and shrubs for South Central Kansas. Roy and his wife Paula continue to own and operate Southwestern Nurseries to this day.
Year Established
1887
Share On: