Braeutigam Orchards

Braeutigam Orchards has been in the family since 1831, but it wasn’t until 1935 that Rollin Braeutigam started raising fruit. Rollie enjoyed selling fruit to his friends so much that he raised more than he could sell! So he decided to take his beautiful ripe peaches to St. Louis Market. Lester, his son, and Marie, his daughter-in-law, helped him load those peaches in a truck and drove to St. Louis. Unfortunately, they did not realize that the market wanted greener fruit and they did not receive a good price. But Rollin and Lester believed tree-ripened peaches had the best and most appeal. Marie said, “Don’t worry we will just sell the peaches right on the farm!” However, Rollin did not believe that people would leave the main road and drive 1 mile down a dirt road to purchase fruit, but he was wrong. He soon found out that people would go anywhere for great-tasting, tree-ripened fruit. Lester continued in the family business of growing and selling fruit with help of his wife, Marie for many years.