Hi Patricia and all, I live in Pembroke, on the far eastern border of Genesee County, and 19th & early 20th century florists are one of our main claims to fame!!! Last year, Genesee County had a big bicentennial parade, and our flower business was the historical theme for our Town's float! In our heyday, we had about a dozen greenhouses, and were famous across the COUNTRY for our tulips, daffodils, and irises, among many others! The railroad came right along the edge of the village, and several times a day they would pick up fresh shipments of flowers to ship ALL over the country! If memory serves, Washington, DC was one of our big customers!! They had iced refrigerator cars back then! There were several horse drawn florist wagons that traveled all over the county every day selling fresh flowers, no different than a vegetable cart! And the railroads made several daily trips to Buffalo, Batavia and other neighboring areas, loaded up with fresh, Corfu flowers! We still have three greenhouses in Pembroke, which, for our size, is a LOT! But flowers were a BIG deal back then, and were probably far more affordable than they are today! Amazing the things you we take for granted now!! Joan In a message dated 6/23/2003 12:57:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: > Dear Fellow Researchers, > > Recently, I have been reading lots of newspaper obituaries and wedding > accounts from the early 1900's. I can't help but ponder HOW and WHERE did > these elaborate condolence floral tributes and elaborate wedding floral > decorations--arches of palms, other exotic plants and flowers come from? > Especially to these tiny farm hamlets in Wyoming County. Were there florists > > in the big cities in those days---Buffalo and Rochester? I am certain Warsaw > > did not have a florist at the turn of the century. I would presume the > flowers all came by train? > > I'd appreciate learning more. Maybe you have a diary from this time period > that explains the procedure. > Please post your reply to REPLY ALL, so we can all benefit. > > Thank you very much. > Sincerely, Pattricia Boddy Tharp