My Genealogy Hound

FRANK LESTER SMITH, for many years prominent in municipal management in Norristown, is descended from an old family of Friends who settled in colonial days in Delaware county, this state. His ancestors were mostly farmers, although his maternal grandfather, Dr. Joseph Blackfan, was a well-known physician of Radnor, who in his day had a very extensive practice.

Joseph C. Smith (father) was born in Easttown township, Chester county, in 1816, where he followed farming until 1874, when the family removed to Norristown. He lived retired until 1890, when he died in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He married Mary, daughter of Dr. Joseph Blackfan, whose wife was a member of the Evans family, also of Radnor. She died over twenty years ago. Dr. Joseph Blackfan had seven children.

John Smith (grandfather) was a native of Easttown township and a farmer by occupation. He lived near where Devon now stands. His family were all members of the Society of Friends. His children, Joseph C. (father), John, Sarah, Hattie, Jane, and Charlotte, are all now deceased.

Frank L. Smith was born February 13, 1856, in Easttown township. He was educated at the Easttown schools and in Norristown, attending the high school but not graduating therefrom. On leaving school Mr. Smith went into the wholesale hardware house of Buehler, Bonbright & Company, in which occupation he remained for six years. He then went into the grocery business in Norristown, locating at DeKalb and Jacoby streets, Norristown, in which occupation he remained about four years. He then engaged in an extensive building operation at Devon, erecting water works and other improvements and a large number of houses. During a portion of this time he was engaged in the real-estate business in Philadelphia.

A need existing in Norristown for an abattoir, Mr. Smith, in conjunction, with John T. Dyer, John Metzer and others, organized the Merchant Ice Company, erecting extensive buildings for the manufacture of ice, the plate method being in use at the establishment, for slaughter houses and for carrying on the coal business. A charter was secured for the company with John T. Dyer as president and Mr. Smith as treasurer. The combination, from a business standpoint, has been very fortunate, the surplus ice, left after the delivery of many thousand tons annually to customers at wholesale and retail, being used for refrigerating purposes in connection with the slaughtering of cattle, sheep, hogs, etc. A large part of the meat consumed in Norristown and adjacent territory is the output of this establishment, of which Mr. Smith is the leading spirit, giving close attention to the business and making it a complete success, financially and otherwise. The plant includes, as a matter of course, ample provision for cold storage. Mr. Smith is also treasurer of the Montgomery Real Estate Company, formed several years ago, intended to operate in Norristown real estate. He is also a director in the Peerless Paper Company, of Philadelphia, an extensive establishment.

Mr. Smith was appointed by Governor Stone, in 1897, a trustee of the Norristown Hospital for the Insane, and he has been for several years treasurer of the board of trustees of that institution, a position which previously had always been filled by a Philadelphia trustee.

It is, however, in connection with municipal improvements in the borough of Norristown, his home since 1874, that Mr. Smith has especially distinguished himself. From the time he came of age, he took an active part in politics, being an earnest Republican, as was his father, and doing everything in his power to promote the success of the principles and policy of that organization. He is serving his seventh term in the town council, having been its honored president for several years, and filled many important committee positions and other appointments therein. His membership in the town council, of twenty-one years, far exceeds the tenure of any other member of that body, and no one else has served so long a time continuously since the organization of the borough of Norristown, in 1812. Although a comparatively young man, Mr. Smith in thus the father of the town council and he fulfills this designation in more ways than one, having suggested or advocated every prominent measure before that body in the past twenty years. Recognizing the necessity of getting out of the old ruts and having municipal management in the county seat of Montgomery become more progressive, he commenced to advocate very early in his career as councilman the adoption of such measures as will place Norristown in the first rank of cities of the state with reference to street, sewer and other improvements. It required some years to impress upon the older and more conservative element in the town council the importance of progressive methods of proceeding.

Mr. Smith was the author and earnest advocate of the first borough loan for street and sewer improvement, After the measure was adopted by the town council, the proposal to increase the indebtedness of the borough by two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for these purposes, was submitted to the voters of Norristown and adopted by a large majority of them. The money was expended in paving and sewering about eighty squares, vitrified brick being largely used, Main street and other leading thoroughfares being permanently paved with that material. The value of these improvements to Norristown real-estate owners can scarcely be estimated. Having been the author of the project, Mr. Smith took a prominent part in the expenditure of the money, always insisting that the work should be done in the best possible manner. A few years later, in 1902, another loan of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars was suggested by Mr. Smith and kindred spirits in the town council. This proposition, on being submitted to the voters of Norristown, was overwhelmingly adopted like the other. This loan was expended largely in putting down the Warren bituminous, water-proof pavement, which has, up to the present time, given excellent satisfaction, there being about fifty squares permanently paved in this way in Norristown.

It is not only in the matter of street improvement that Mr. Smith has taken an active part during his membership in the town council. He has uniformly favored the grant of the streets to trolley companies and otherwise aided in making Norristown one of the most enterprising and progressive cities of the state, affording a very desirable location for those from other sections of Montgomery and of Pennsylvania who are looking for a desirable place of residence. Mr. Smith has taken an active interest in the fire department, the police department and other branches of the city government. He was prominently interested in the borough legislation which led to the erection of the munincipal building, the City Hall, which occupies the site of the old borough market on DeKalb street, from Airy to Marshall. No member of the town council of Norristown has ever made such an impess on the municipal legislation of the place as Mr. Smith, and no one is entitled to greater credit for the creation of a new Norristown, in place of the overgrown village of former times.

In private life, as in public duty, Mr. Smith is a model of what every citizen should be. He is genial and affable in his deportment, practical and business-like in action, earnestly devoted to the interests of his town and county. In politics he is a born leader, and probably no one else has done so much as he to make Norristown so strongly Republican that, at the recent elections, every district was carried by candidates by that party, and the party majority has frequently exceeded a thousand. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity. While he is one of the busiest citizens of Morristown, he finds time for recreation, and is one who thoroughly enjoys life in all its phases. An acknowledged leader in borough, county and state politics, Mr. Smith finds time for the proper performance of every duty as a man, a citizen, and one who gives faithful attention to every business interest.

Mr. Smith married Miss Cora D., daughter of Benjamin F. and Rachel D. Hagey. They have one son, Frank Lester, born August 13, 1899. They live in a substantial residence on Powell street, in the Sixth ward of Norristown.