The earliest buildings in the South Rail Road Avenue block between 9th and 10th Street were constructed by William O. Harwell around 1900 and were occupied by his agricultural supply store. His daughter, Alice Inez Harwell, married Lum Duke, who served as Circuit Court Judge from 1910-1923 and as Probate Judge of Lee County from late 1932 until January 1935. He had three children, and his daughter Inez Duke Searcy, born August 30, 1900, was the first female law school graduate of the University of Alabama and practiced law in Opelika. His son William S. Duke, born January 12, 1909, graduated from Auburn University in 1929 and had a distinguished law practice spanning 69 years in Opelika and Montgomery, Alabama.