In the 1890s, L.P. Davis House and Grounds stood as one of the oldest homes in Lowell. In 1881, L.P. Davis owned outlot No. 1 and 34 acres used for his plant nursery, and an adjoining 40 acres is clearly defined on a 1905 map. The nursery sold locally and shipped fruit trees, berry vines, and plants. Tattered 1900 nursery orders, still in postmarked envelopes and tied in bundles, were recovered from the hollow red brick walls of the ice house, where these bundles and newspapers insulated the walls for cold storage of plant cultivars. Ice sawed from the winter pond and hauled by horse-drawn sled to the ice house provided further thrift. Benton County boasted 40,000 apple trees in commercial production for 1900, making a plant nursery a good choice, and in July 1893 L.P. Davis made a little over 20 bushels of wheat per acre.