Nelson Davis Block

The Davis Block was constructed in 1860 for Nelson Davis, a pharmacist, and housed his drug store and a newspaper shop on the ground floor. The second floor appears to have been residential space and offices.

From 1873 to 1891, Florence Savings Bank was located on the second floor in the office of H. H. Bond. At some time prior to 1902, a third floor, used as a public hall, was added. Throughout the 1900s, numerous stores occupied one or both sides of the ground floor. One half of the ground floor was occupied by a drug store until the early 1920s. Over time, it has housed several dry-goods merchants, a furniture store, the Vermont Butter Store, Everybody’s Market (its longest occupant), and a succession of restaurants. The wing on the north side of the building has been home to Murphy’s Realtors, Bookends (1990–98), and Collective Copies (2000–present). The upper floors, once a two-family residence, have been converted to condominiums. 

No doubt that countless Florence residents have strong memories of Everybody’s Market, founded by Charles Selvecki in 1933 and run by Mitchell “Mitch” Jasinski and his wife Helen (Selvecki) Jasinski from 1957 to 1983. The third generation continued to run Everybody’s Market until it closed in 1998. The left side of the ground floor was used as the office for Michael Bardsley’s campaign for mayor in 2011 (with a sign in the window saying “Everybody’s Mayor”).