Only a handful of family businesses in the Fox Valley that were around at the start of the century remain intact at its end.

Those remaining have survived by adapting to 100 years of often turbulent, and always changing times.

As a new century approaches, though, each has a different outlook for the future.

Kenyon Brothers Farm in South Elgin and Platt Hill Nursery in Carpentersville may not be as big as they once were, but their owners say their reputations for quality service are at their peaks. Rakow Furniture in East Dundee has seen large growth in recent years, while Wait-Ross-Allanson Funeral Homes in Elgin and Algonquin are expecting business to jump in the first few decades of the next century.

In East Dundee, Craig Rakow approaches a new millennium by continuing a family tradition in retail sales that his grandfather started at the end of the last millennium.

During the century-long span, though, the Rakow family's business has changed quite a bit from its early days as a grocery and dry goods store.

Instead of food and clothes, the family business now focuses its efforts on home and office furniture, carpeting and window treatments.

"What we sell has changed a lot, but there must be something in our genes that likes retail, because we've all been there," Rakow said. "And we've always prided ourselves on honesty and going the extra mile for people."

The business made the switch to furniture in 1953 when Rakow's father started selling dinette sets in an East Dundee storefront. His line of chrome tables and vinyl-seat chairs quickly expanded to include rugs, hi-fi stereo equipment and furnishings for living rooms and bedrooms.

In the same way his father joined the business and changed its face in 1953, Rakow did the same about 25 years later, adding an office furniture division to the company.

"My grandfather, my father, my brother and I have all worked in the business, and maybe some day one of my own children will," he said. "My son Christopher has shown some interest in coming into the family business, and that could happen pretty quick."

After more than 100 years in the same family line - and with that trend looking to continue - Rakow Furniture is continuing to grow and recently relocated to a larger facility.

Another Fox Valley family business relocated and altered its product line during this last century, but it, too, has maintained its family name and ties.

Founded in West Dundee in 1855, the Hill Nursery is one of the oldest in the country, initially selling only fruit trees.

The nursery's focus later shifted to evergreen trees, and eventually to fragile Japanese bonsai trees, making the Platt Hill Nursery one of the nation's largest bonsai suppliers.

It later moved to Carpentersville.

While Platt Hill Nursery in Carpentersville is not as large as it once was, the current owner said the family's name is just as well-known.

"Quality and reliability are first and foremost, and many times, a business that has been there for a substantial amount of time provides that," said Platt Hill. "I have two sons ... Who knows? They might decide to continue the tradition."

Platt Hill Nursery and Rakow Furniture are expecting young family members to carry on the family business, but a South Elgin company founded in 1897 faces the problem of finding relatives to take on that duty. The Kenyon Brothers Farm also is battling a downward trend in its industry.

Kenyon Brothers Farm near Elgin continues to grow corn, soybeans and hay; and the family continues to raise and milk dairy cows. But as the third generation of the family took over, the farm had to eliminate its cattle dealings because of changes in the trade.

"We still farm, but the cattle business has gone to the wayside," said Michael Kenyon. "There were just fewer and fewer buyers to be found."

Kenyon joined the farm at age 13, but doesn't see his own children ever taking it over.

"You farm because you enjoy it; it's a way of life," he said. "None of my kids ever seemed to be interested in being on the farm. They have other things they'd rather do."

As industry trends are translating into less business for family farms across the country, so was the case in the funeral home business during the last part of the 20th Century.

Wait-Ross-Allanson Funeral Homes survived those dangerous times when international chains tried to buy up family funeral homes, or force them out of business.

Founded in Elgin in 1876, and later expanding to Algonquin, Wait-Ross-Allanson has maintained family ties this entire century.

After years of steady, though not rapid growth, the funeral home expects a large jump in business in about 20 years.

"We haven't seen much population growth in this area in a long time," said director Earl Donoho. "Algonquin and Lake in the Hills are seeing a big population spurt now, and that means as that population grows, our business will, too."

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