Photo of Hector Smith's lumber yard in Cookstown in the mid-1970s showing a large amount of lumber, both round and planed, stacked in groups. In 1945 Hector Smith took over the sawdust business established by his father-in-law, Robert J. McAfee. By 1946 Hector Smith's shop located on John Street was selling not just sawdust but also finished lumber, plywood, wood shingles, cement, and building hardware, and the business was renamed H.F. Smith Lumber. Hector was seriously injured in 1975 in a pedestrian accident, and the business was then taken over by his son Wally, and later his other son Don. In 1976 Wally and Don purchased the property located on the northwest corner of George and John Streets to further expand the business, and in 1978 they joined with Home Hardware. It wasn't until 2005 that, upon Don and Wally's retirement, the business left the family when it was sold to 25-year employee Neil Currie and his business partner Paul Dubé.
