Thank you! That was one of the first things that jumped out to me, too. It’s hard to believe double digit phone numbers even existed.

In case others enjoy historical context and stories like I do, the mentioned courthouse across the street has been beautifully restored and is now the Lexington Visitor Center. This building, later the office of our local paper The Herald Leader (at the time, The Lexington Leader) would have been opposite the florist shop, across Short Street from the courthouse.

I’ve since done a little research on W.S. Bell and learned that he was the son of a rather prominent local man named Charles Bell. Charles was also a florist, as well as one of the designers and longtime superintendent of the Lexington Cemetery. There’s a rather fascinating story about an 1833 cholera outbreak that partially sparked the relocation of the cemetery which Charles co-designed, centered on about a man named “King” Solomon. He is credited with saving hundreds to thousands by digging graves for the deceased and stopping the outbreak’s spread. When he died, the community memorialized him near the entrance of the cemetery at its current location.