Christmas shoppers along West Main Street in December 1945, with the largest crowd on the sidewalk outside JC Penney and Purcell Co. department stores, top left. World War II had ended three months earlier, and rationing had recently been lifted on a variety of items, including bicycles, shoes, meat and cheese. The Lexington Leader reported that “despite continuing scarcity of many articles, including toys, Lexington stores have been jammed with shoppers the last several weeks.” The photo was taken from a second-story window of the B.B. Smith and Co. clothing store, just east of Mill Street, looking west along Main Street. Published in the Lexington Leader on Dec. 18, 1945. Herald-Leader Archive Photo