Varner and Pole store, Lexington, Virginia copy print photos, 1881/1900

Containers:

Box 11, Folder 32

Biographical / historical:

The cabinetmaking and furniture sales operations first began when Andrew Wallace Varner and John Pole formed a partnership. Local historical records show surviving pieces of furniture crafted and sold under their names dating back into the late 19th century. The physical store settled into the prominent Sheridan Building on South Main Street in 1881, where it expanded from pure furniture crafting into retail sales. In 1902, the business officially updated its commercial corporate name to Varner & Pole & Co. to legally account for changing managerial partners and expanding lines of operations, which famously included both furniture sales and funeral directing. Mr. Andrew Wallace Varner died on July 2, 1910, at the age of 78. He was a legendary Lexington, Virginia craftsman, cabinetmaker, Civil War veteran, and the founding partner behind the Varner & Pole firm. His brother and business partner, Charles Van Buren Varner, passed away a few years prior in 1907. Mr. John Pole, the expert cabinetmaker and longtime business partner who cofounded the South Main Street furniture and funeral directing establishment with the Varner family, died on January 19, 1917, at the age of 84. The business they built, Varner & Pole Furniture Dealers and Funeral Directors, continued operating under family and manager oversight through the 1920s boom, outlasted two world wars, and finally closed its doors in April 1993 after more than a century of service on South Main Street in Lexington, Virginia.

Other descriptive data:

These later copy prints of early photos were made by Andre Studio, Lexington, Virginia and show early interior store photos, which include Mr. Pole and Mr. Varner.

Access and use