Hannah “Mom” Royer founded Royer’s Flowers in 1937 with her husband, Lester.
“Mom” Royer and “Granny” Forney lived in different centuries, but their inspiring stories of business success have converged in the new “Women’s History of Lebanon County” exhibit at the Lebanon County Historical Society.
They are among 41 women honored individually in the exhibit, which runs from October through March.
Hannah “Mom” Royer, a native of Myerstown, founded our company with her husband, Lester, in 1937. The exhibit notes that Mom started selling African violets grown on the windowsill of her Lebanon home during the Depression.
The plants helped turn the Royers’ summer produce business into a year-round enterprise and, ultimately, one of the most successful flower retailers in the United States.
Royer’s contributed a silk floral arrangement and a yard stick bearing the name South Side Flower Shop, as the original store was known, to Mom’s part of the exhibit.
Hannah Royer’s tribute shares a shelf in a glass case with that of Forney, who as a divorced mother in the 1800s supported her family working for her neighbors by day and, at night, making cake and beer to sell. Her Annville shop, according to the exhibit, “became a community center where people met to talk and young couples courted.”
The idea for the exhibit – comprising two rooms of a converted house dating to 1786 – originated with the Lebanon County Commission for Women. The commission presented the historical society with a long list of names for consideration.
‘In the discussion early on’
Shane Keenan, the historical society’s archivist, worked with board of trustees members Sherie Strohman and Barbara Gaffney to compile the final list.
Mom Royer, Keenan said, “was definitely in the discussion early on. I think as soon as we determined that we were going to have a section on business and workplace, her name came up, I think right away.”
Other women featured in the exhibit come from the areas of sports, arts, medicine, politics, education, military, philanthropy.
One of the intents of the exhibit is to offer a glimpse into how local women participated in national events, including the battle over women’s suffrage, or the right for women to vote.
Doris Long came to the county from New York, to teach English at Lebanon Valley College. As president of the local chapter of the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association, Long spoke at an event in 1915 when a statewide tour of the Women’s Liberty Bell stopped in Lebanon.
A replica of the Liberty Bell minus the crack, the Women’s Liberty Bell didn’t ring (a chain kept its clapper from moving) until ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
Long is featured in the exhibit along with one of her local foes, Deborah Norris Coleman Brock, who was president of the Pennsylvania Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. Brock was born into the Coleman family iron dynasty and used her wealth for philanthropic endeavors, including helping to start Good Samaritan Hospital.
The historical society recognizes that the exhibit reflects only a portion of the contributions made by women to the county’s development. Cards will be provided for visitors to suggest other women who should be recognized.
Meanwhile, you can learn more about Mom Royer on our blog.
IF YOU GO
The “Women’s History of Lebanon County” exhibit runs through March, which is Women’s History Month, at the Lebanon County Historical Society, 924 Cumberland St., Lebanon.
Admission to the women’s exhibit is free. The historical society is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.