From
the "The Village of Harlem: Its People, Homes and Business – 50th
Anniversary Souvenir 1856 to 1906"
"Mr. Nicholas Armbrust was born in Holstein, Germany, in 1845, and came to Harlem in 1866. He lived a short time in Evanston, Ill., and a few years in Oak Park, having a green-house where the Masonic Hall now stands, but on account of needing more room he was compelled to move over the line to Harlem, where he is now located at Randolph St. and Harlem Ave., on property he bought thirty years ago. Mr. Armbrust has been very successful in floriculture, both from a business and scientific point of view. He learned the art of floriculture in Germany and was for a time gardener for the Emperor Wilhelm I, at Berlin. He is an expert in the propagation of plants. He now has a large and well-equipped greenhouse plant, and he tells that in order to establish this, how, in former years, materials for construction and propagation had to be hauled from the city in small lots by a horse and wagon; but by persistent effort he has achieved the merited success that makes later life easy and independent. His specialty is floral designs and potted plants for all purposes. Mr. Armbrust served the village honorably for two years as trustee. He was reared a Lutheran by faith and worships at the German Lutheran Church, of which he is a cheerful and liberal supporter.
"He was married to Miss Cecilia Strunck in 1887. Mr. Armbrust was a woman or noble character. She died in 1893. They had four sons, three of whom are living -- Bernard, George and Charles. The sons are in business with their father."