Staff Writer
Shadowlawn Nursery in Clay County released its last five employees recently and will halt operation of its 400-acre nursery, according to the company.
“Due to the economics of the market and the recent downturn in the economy, we are shuttering that part of the business right now,” said Cooper Murphy, assistant vice president of Reinhold Corporation, Shadowlawn’s parent company.
“We haven’t given up on the nursery. It’s just in hibernation until we see signs of improvement in the economy. We haven’t been actively selling much on the market for the last year,” he said.
The nursery was a small portion of the 28,000 acres Reinhold owns throughout Clay County and it will continue to manage those properties and its timber business, said Murphy.
Plans are to re-evaluate the market in 12-24 months with the hopes of re-opening the nursery.
At one time, Shadowlawn Nursery employed up to 35 people. It opened in 1987 and would later develop and register the “Cathedral Oak,” known for its fullness, rapid growth and dark green color.
“This is tied back to the housing and development industries. Most of (Shadowlawn’s) customers, being a wholesale business, were developers, so when they aren’t building houses, then they aren’t buying trees for landscaping,” said Ronnie Robinson, Clay County Commissioner for District 5, which includes Shadowlawn Nursery.
“It’s sad that it’s happening, but when your business is costing you more than what it produces, it’s a decision that you have to make,” he said.
Shadowlawn Nursery is the only resident on the section of County Road 218 north of the Penney Farms Retirement Community, but the nursery wasn’t the only part of the community affected by Reinhold.
Company founder Paul Reinhold ran and later sold a chain of family dairies in Pittsburgh before moving to Jacksonville in 1931, where he became president of Foremost Dairies.
He also acquired the substantial Clay County land holdings of retailer J.C. Penney and used the land to support milking cows and cattle and to grow timber. Reinhold later sold significant acreage to the U.S. government to establish Camp Blanding and to Gilman Paper Co.
The name Shadowlawn will continue to have a presence on CR 218 as its closest neighbor, Shadowlawn Elementary School, opens its doors for its third year. The 30 acres it occupies were sold to the school district by Reinhold.
356-2466