1923 THE BEGINNING
Kenneth M. Gillespie opened his first flower shop in 1923 in The Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Spring, West Virginia. He grew his own flowers and also had flowers shipped by train from Denver and Philadelphia. Most of his business was bouquets, corsages, and centerpieces. In the early years, winter, business was slow at The Greenbrier, so he opened five winter stores in large hotels in Florida. They were the Palm Beach Breakers, Whitehall Hotel, Boca Raton Hotel, Hollywood Beach, and the Biltmore. In 1944, during World War II, The Greenbrier was closed and became Ashford General Hospital for the US Army, and also served as an interment center for prisoners of war. At that time, Kenneth Gillespie opened the village shop in downtown White Sulphur Springs. He continued to work until the age of 91.

1953 THE SECOND GENERATION
Kenneth (Temp) Gillespie began working at Gillespie Flowers in 1948 following his Army service and again in 1953 following his Korean War duty. In 1951, Temp and his family closed the shops in Florida and began staying in White Sulphur Springs year round. Temp did return to operate the Palm Beach Whitehall Hotel during the 1957 winter season. During the late 1960's Temp expanded the business into theme parties and productions. A warehouse was built to store party props and a 4,000 square foot addition was built onto the downtown shop. Currently, Temp & his wife Phebe have retired to Naples, Florida where they spend most the year.

1983 THE THIRD GENERATION
In 1983 Temp's children: John, Martha, and Charley began working in the flower shop and building on Temp's ideas. Today flowers are flown in from California, Central America, Holland, Hawaii, and Thailand. Gillespie's strives to use product from many local growers. There are 20 full time employees and ten part time employees. The business is equipped with a 10-truck fleet as well as 19,000 square feet in warehouse space.

The business has expanded into party rental equipment, tents, specialty linen rentals, napkins, and china rentals, exhibit trade shows, theatrical lighting, theme parties, and graphic signs. The Gillespie family tradition of serving the décor needs of the guests of The Greenbrier continues to this day.

View the historical photos here.