Ecke Family Honored by Heritage Museum

Chris Beytes

The Paul Ecke family’s “invaluable contributions to the growth of San Dieguito,” is now on display at the San Dieguito Heritage Museum in Encinitas, California—which, coincidently, is located on land that was once part of the Ecke Ranch.

The exhibit, called “Paul Ecke Ranch, 100 Years of Blooming History,” opened December 12 and runs through February.

“I am very proud of our family legacy; it is an interesting story,” said Paul Ecke III, the fourth-generation owner who sold the business in 2012. “My grandfather got here in 1923. There were 600 people in Encinitas; now are there are 60,000. It was a wonderful place to grow up and still is a wonderful place to live.”

Although, as you may or may not know, the family’s history with poinsettias goes back even further, to Paul’s great-grandfather Albert Ecke, a German immigrant who started growing poinsettias in the Los Angeles area in the early 1900s. It was Albert’s son, Paul Ecke, Sr., who moved the business south to Encinitas in the 1920s. GT