Hazard's Glory Years

Ideal Furniture was a tall, skinny, three story building between Newberries and Sterling Hardware. This business was organized by W. E. Mattingly, M. E. French and Ben D. Gatliff. It was a lovely store with good furniture and giftware. In the south corner, Fred Mattingly had a watch repair and jewelry shop.

Mr. Mattingly married Stella Combs, the lovely daughter of Spencer Combs. They had a nice church wedding. Yes, we had elegant weddings then. I remember the guests as they tripped up the boardwalk of Broadway on the way to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Calloway Napier, Stella’s sister. The guests were elegantly attired in picture hats and wore white elbow-length gloves.

Ideal Furniture Company was organized in 1918, The company installed a set of Westminster Chimes in 1941. For many years the chimes played every fifteen minutes and were heard at the top of each hour. Programs of sacred, classical and semi-classical music were played each afternoon at five pm and on Sunday mornings at 9:30. The Nation's Prayer Minute was announced each evening at six pm by the playing of Sweet Hour of Prayer. After the installation of the chimes, Ideal Furniture became known to many as The Home of Chimes.

Bill Mattingly later sole out and moved to Florida where he was engaged in the real estate business for several years, but the inoculation of Kentucky soil outweighed the sand of Florida and he returned to Lexington.

Home Office Supply Company later occupied the Ideal Furniture building. Today it houses a really nice restaurant known as the Sky Box.