Martinsville a Pictorial History

Manhood

     The Martinsville fire department in 1938 consisted of the trusty fire dog and left to right from front to back, Milt Suddith, William Ennis, W.E. Brewer; Assistant Chief Maurice Ennis, Chief Ira Cramer, driver Anson Riley, President Demcy C. Baker, Earl Powell, Ed Baker; Walter Messmer, Herman Szatkowsky, Vice President Omar Townsend, and Frank Bailey.

     In 1885 on his 21st birthday, Nixon H. Gano's future stretched out before him. He had studied horticulture at the conservatory in Cincinnati and asked his father's permission to become a professional florist. In 1900, after 15 years of training in Cincinnati, Chicago, and Richmond, Indiana, he and his wife Elizabeth, came to Martinsville and purchased the city's single greenhouse owned by Harry Wynn. Gano christened his new business at 865 East Harrison Street the Martinsville Floral Company, changing it's name to Gano's Flowers in 1927 to more closely identify it with the family.
    In 1907, three-year old Walter Gano givers his father, Nixon H. Gano, founder of Gano's Flowers, a helping hand with the carnations and pansies.

     It must have been work to set up this Heinz products display in the James and Butler grocery store on the south side of the square, but once done it was as pretty as a picture. Whether they helped the unidentified, bespectacled salesman or not, William James, Walter Bulter, and Glenn Neal got in the camera's lens.

While some men and their work remain anonymous, Charles Lafoon, with pipe in mouth and hammer in hand, displays his shoemaking and repairing skills to a photographer in the early 1900s. Lofoon's shop was located on the south side of East Morgan Street, where the IGA store is today.

Excerpts of, “ Martinsville A Pictorial History,” republished by permission of
G. Bradley Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
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The Martinsville fire department in 1938 consisted of the trusty fire dog and left to right from front to back, Milt Suddith, William Ennis, W.E. Brewer; Assistant Chief Maurice Ennis, Chief Ira Cramer, driver Anson Riley, President Demcy C. Baker, Earl Powell, Ed Baker; Walter Messmer, Herman Szatkowsky, Vice President Omar Townsend, and Frank Bailey.
	In 1885 on his 21st birthday, Nixon H. Gano's future stretched out before him. He had studied horticulture at the conservatory in Cincinnati and asked his father's permission to become a professional florist. In 1900, after 15 years of training in Cincinnati, Chicago, and Richmond, Indiana, he and his wife Elizabeth, came to Martinsville and purchased the city's single greenhouse owned by Harry Wynn. Gano christened his new business at 865 East Harrison Street the Martinsville Floral Company, changing it's name to Gano's Flowers in 1927 to more closely identify it with the family. In 1907, three-year old Walter Gano givers his father, Nixon H. Gano, founder of Gano's Flowers, a helping hand with the carnations and pansies.
It must have been work to set up this Heinz products display in the James and Butler grocery store on the south side of the square, but once done it was as pretty as a picture. Whether they helped the unidentified, bespectacled salesman or not, William James, Walter Bulter, and Glenn Neal got in the camera's lens.
	While some men and their work remain anonymous, Charles Lafoon, with pipe in mouth and hammer in hand, displays his shoemaking and repairing skills to a photographer in the early 1900s. Lofoon's shop was located on the south side of East Morgan Street, where the IGA store is today.