Nothing has a more wonderful scent than that of a flower shop, especially in the off season. Those of us who live in the North get a little stir crazy during the long weeks of winter, even a tame winter. One cure for the winter blues is to poke your head into a flower shop. A few deep breaths of the concentrated perfume of many flowers from many places may convince you that life is worth living after all.
One Toledo purveyor of flowers and their scent was Selah N. Peck (1845-1922), who owned and operated Peck’s Flower Shop. Neither the largest nor most notorious, Mr. Peck ran his florist’s business for many years from downtown Toledo at several different locations. Long forgotten by most, Peck’s career was typical of urban floriculture at the turn of the last century.
Selah N. Peck (he was usually called “S. N.”) was born in 1845, at or near Dresden, Ohio, in Muskingum County. We do not know the details, but he married a girl from Van Buren, Ohio named Alice Larkins, the marriage taking place in Hardin County. They moved to Toledo about 1895, and lived on Broadway Avenue with their two daughters, one son, and a female servant. The two oldest, Bertha and Frank, helped out in the shop.
And what a shop! A contemporary description (1897) had this to say:
His hot- house covers about 8,000 square feet, and is equipped with every modern service service known to the art of floriculture. Mr. Peck grows all kinds of rare flowers, shrubs and plants and keeps the finest display of blooms in the city. He makes a specialty of all kinds of floral decorative work for balls, parties, weddings, etc., and also supplies the choicest of all cut flowers for any use. . . He has long been interested in floriculture and knows every detail of the growing and propagating of flowers.
[Toledo-Lucas County Public Library]
Actually, Peck moved the business, specialized as it was, to several different locations Downtown. The greenhouses were located at 1707 Broadway, but he had retail outlets at 507 Madison (1900-02), 442 Summit (1908-11), and 424 Superior (1912-19). He also spent “part of the time in Air Line Junction,” that conglomeration of railroad shops and facilities in south Toledo, which may account for some of the gaps in his addresses.
In addition to his work arranging and selling flowers, Peck was an inventor, and the holder of a patent. “Mr. Peck is also the inventor and patentee of a novel ventilating device whereby ventilation can be secured at one.” United States Patent 575892, issued to Peck on January 26, 1897, secured his right to a “transom lifter.” The invention automatically lifted the windows of greenhouses, which are sensitive to changes in heat and light.
Peck was well-regarded and well-liked in Toledo business and social circles. At times, the Toledo Florists Club met at his store. When he retired to Folkston, Georgia, in 1919, he was looking forward to a well-earned retirement in a warmer climate. But on the night of December 7, 1922, tragedy struck:
Mr. Peck and wife [sic] were on their way to visit a neighbor, walking on the edge of the road. . . . [he] was knocked down and drug over a hundred feet. . . . by a wildly driven, dimly lighted Ford by parties unknown.
Peck lingered for 26 hours, then died of his injuries. In March, his remains were brought home to Toledo, where he was buried at Maplewood Cemetery.
As a florist, Selah Peck provided floral arrangements for many a Toledo funeral. It is one of the ironies of the florist’s calling. The beautiful flowers and plants that symbolize life when there is no life in season are also symbolic of funerals and the end of life. However used, flowers cheer the heart. Mr. Peck brought happiness to many a Toledo home.
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