The former Richardson flower shop that used to be here actually began life as Mitchell’s Florist a little further south at 615 South Union Avenue. In 1922, Walter F. Mitchell (1869-1944) and Anna Mitchell (1883-1961) had a greenhouse and flower shop at their home there for several years. Walter was the nephew of Annie E. Seneca (of Seneca Canning). When Walter died in 1944, his wife and their daughter, Dorothy H. Mitchell, decided to move the shop closer to Harford Memorial Hospital at the corner of Lewis Street.

In 1954, this store became “Harford and Cecil Counties’ Most Complete Florist Service,” “Richardson’s Gifts and Flowers,” owned by Henry and Jo Ann Richardson. Pat Allingham used to work there for the Richardsons and says she can still make a boutonniere. And Dr. Richard Grubb says that he had his first dental office on the second floor here above the florist.

In 1971, the property became a durable medical equipment store and service and is now a large business called Home Mediservice, Inc. that extends along Lewis Street past Freedom Lane. By 2006, the property was owned by the Trustees of E. Henry Richardson Trust and Mark D. and Laura B. Richardson, who sold it to Upper Chesapeake Properties, Inc., who still own it.

County Records
14,613 sq ft, retail store, 11,040 sq ft lot.