After 117 Years, Morgenthaler's Family Business Continues to Evolve

Being able to change with the times is what sustains many long-time family-owned businesses. Since 1894, Morgenthaler’s has done just that over four generations.

The Maplewood business specializes in the cleaning of draperies and blinds and household items like slipcovers, comforters and tablecloths. They also design, sell and install custom-made window treatments and other items.

The business is operated today by Jeanne Morgenthaler Wolf, great-granddaughter of the founder, and her sister-in-law, Cindy Morgenthaler. The two women are committed to the family tradition of personalized, customer service.

Wolf’s great-grandfather, Eugene Morgenthaler, bought a fabric-dyeing business in 1894 at 10th and Cole streets in downtown St. Louis. At that time, people had limited choices when it came to fabrics, so they would dye clothing and household items to meet their needs. The business evolved into a full-service cleaner with Wolf’s grandfather, Albert, becoming the second-generation owner.

“My dad, Eugene Sr., was born on the third floor over the family business,” said Wolf of her late father. “He was a part of this business from the beginning.” 

The Morgenthaler family sold the building to the City of St. Louis when the city set out to build the convention center. The business then moved to a location on Hampton Avenue, and the family got out of the apparel cleaning business and primarily focused on drapery cleaning.

Eugene Sr. worked alongside his wife, Josephine, 92, and they raised four children who all worked at the business growing up. He decided to retire in 1989 and pass on the business operations to his daughter and daughter-in-law. Wolf, who has four children with her husband, Greg, and Morgenthaler, who has five children with her husband, Eugene Jr., have worked in the business while raising their children.

“Being able to work in the family business made it easier to stay home for our kids when we needed to be there and raise our families,” said Morgentaler, who would bring home invoices and work on the family computer.

The two women decided to move the business to Maplewood in 1989, which was a central location for their customers with easy access to area highways. They also felt they were on the cusp of the city’s revitalization.

“We’re a little off the beaten track in Maplewood,” said Wolf of the business's Southwest Avenue location. “This has been a good location for us because we built the business and plant with the idea that we would grow.” 

As with every generation, Wolf and Morgenthaler made the decision to make a few changes themselves and added custom window treatments to their services. In addition, they take down and re-hang draperies, offer all types of repairs and outsource other custom work, like custom-made slipcovers, pillows and other items for customers. 

“We’re a specialty cleaner of window treatments and household items first. We have a state-of-the-art facility using environmentally safe equipment,” Wolf said. “We’re a small business with just five full-time employees, but we pride ourselves on our customer service and strong work ethic that has been passed down through each generation.”

Because of Morgenthaler’s unique services, they have worked on projects like replacing window treatments in a historical North St. Louis home that were damaged in a fire to working on a project at the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis, where they were tasked to find blinds that would meet specific historical criteria.

Their customers range from those living in older neighborhoods who want to protect their home’s historical integrity by finding fabrics that are true to a home’s era to the modern-day lofts downtown St. Louis that have larger windows and require specialty coverings.

“Draperies are making a comeback,” Wolf said. “In the ’80s and ’90s, people used more blinds in their homes, but now they are using more decorative rods and hardware. Sun shades are popular, particularly in lofts, because there is too much light coming in the larger windows and it’s harder to see the flat-screen TVs.”

Describing themselves as a good team, both Wolf and Morgenthaler smile when they think of Eugene Sr. and how he would view the changes they’ve brought to the business. In fact, his photo hangs between their desks, which face each other in the front of the store.

Even after he retired, Eugene Sr. would still come to work every day and enjoyed seeing the changes, including the addition of direct mail marketing and a fax machine, which he wasn’t sure they needed.

Morgenthaler, who handles the accounting and bookkeeping, and Wolf, who takes care of sales and marketing, even seem a little surprised with the changes they are making thanks to the Internet and the addition of a website, www.morgenthalers.com, and Facebook page to promote their business.

It’s not uncommon to find them in the cleaning and pressing area of their business working alongside their employees, Carla Ivie and Frankie Reale, or working with their customer service technician and installer, Ed Knoten.

They also offer wholesale cleaning for area dry cleaners that aren’t able to accommodate the specialty cleaning of comforters and tablecloths. In fact, one of the busiest times of the year is between Thanksgiving and Christmas when families bring out their finer tablecloths for cleaning and pressing.

“We have generations of customers who have been coming back year after year,” Wolf said. “There aren’t many businesses who offer the services we do. People invest a lot of money into their draperies and household items.”

Morgenthaler and Wolf hope that, between their nine children, one of them will be interested in continuing the family business.

“It may be one of our children or maybe an in-law like me,” said Morgenthaler, who never expected to be part of the family business.

Each generation has offered something new to the business, so both women look forward to seeing what their own children may do.