William A. Lankford

William A. Lankford
W. A. Lankford, ca. 1906
Member of the Charlottesville City Council
Electoral District	Fourth Ward
Biographical Information
Date of birth	1859
Date of death	1922
Place of death	Charlottesville, Virginia
Spouse	Mary Elizabeth Walters Lankford
Children	1
Residence	Lankford Avenue
Profession	Business entrepreneur

William A. Lankford (1859-1922) was a business entrepreneur. In 1901, he was elected to the city council representing the Third Ward. A member of the community for over 35 years, he was best known as central Virginia's leading florist and horticulturist. His works included the Hebrew cemetery and the grounds of the C. & O. Depot.

On first coming to the area he was employed as a train dispatcher at the C. & O. depot. Later he opened a successful bottling works. He was elected street commissioner of the city. Lankford was one of the organizers of the first telephone company in Charlottesville.

Charlottesville City Council (1900-1916)

On May 23, 1901, Lankford was elected to the city council representing the Third Ward. This was the first election under that second charter which organized the City of Charlottesville under a mayor-council government.

Bio

Superintendent of city streets and sanitation, he supervised the opening of many new streets. He was superintendent of Albemarle Telephone Company for six years and train dispatcher for the C & O railway for seven years. In 1906, Lankford was superintendent for the erection of the new (c. 1906) fire house on Vinegar Hill.

In 1901, he established owned and occupied fifteen acres of land between First and Ridge streets; ten thousand square feet of which was under glass. He kept “constantly on-hand palms, tropical plants and rare exotics, choice cut flowers of all kinds, roses, carnations, lilies of the valley etc.” Mr. Lankford made a specialty of decorating churches, ballrooms, residences. His business supplied floral outfits for balls, weddings, parties and funerals”.

Remnants of Lankford’s horticultural business may still be evident in the wooded area across Cherry Avenue from Oakwood Cemetery. King Greenhouse purchased the Lankford business when it went bankrupt in 1931. Walter Page and William-Holloway, proprietors of King Greenhouses, owed two other greenhouses when they bought Lankford’s.

Funeral flowers of Benjamin E. Tonsler (1917)

Superintendent of city streets and sanitation, Lankford supervised the opening of many new streets. He was superintendent of the Charlottesville Telephone Company for six years and train dispatcher for the C & O railway for seven years. In 1906, Lankford was superintendent for the erection of the new fire house on Vinegar Hill.

In 1912, Lankford expanded his florist business by acquiring additional tracts near his existing nursery/florist business – including property originally purchased by free black Robert Goins prior to the Civil War. In 1931, Nathan Fleming acquired land once part of the nursery land. The Nathan and Estelle Fleming House, built in 1933, is now among a group of dwellings associated with historic African-American settlement of the neighborhood east of Ridge Street.

Lankford died suddenly at his home (aged 64). He had resided in Charlottesville for the past 35 years. He was married to Miss Mary Elizabeth Walters, of Charlottesville. They had one daughter, Mrs. E.D. Campbell.

Namesakes

Lankford Avenue, off Ridge Street, is named for him.

During its Monday night meeting on August 15, 2022, Charlottes­ville City Council passed a resolution renaming two city streets. Part of Lankford Avenue is now Dr. Alvin Edwards Drive, honoring the longtime pastor of Mount Zion First African Baptist Church. A portion of Ridge McIntire Street was also renamed Vinegar Hill Boulevard to acknowledge the thriving Black neighborhood that was razed during urban renewal in 1965.