By Carol Fisher Linn
Worth W. Smith Hardware branches out again. Since 1929 – Mt. Jewett PA becomes 7th location for the store.
Imagine this – 1929 was the time of The Great Depression – a stock market crash and a period of severe economic downturn stretched across America. Pre-Depression Pennsylvania was home to thriving steel mills, coal mines and manufacturing plants and a bustling agricultural economy. With the collapse businesses shuttered, unemployment skyrocketed, industry declined sharply, bank failures were common wiping out savings of countless families, crop prices plummeted, soup kitchens and bread lines were common, the demand for steel dried up, coal mining was devastated, and farmers lost generations-old farms.
Yet, in 1929, Worth Waldo Smith pulled himself up by his bootstraps, got into his truck and started traveling from Pennsylvania to Maine and Florida then west to Indiana, buying and selling surplus and closeout goods. He purchased factory over-runs and seconds like copper kettles and ballpein hammers. Later, Smith went on to buy and sell World War II surplus and ladders. It wasn’t long before his extensive inventory and growing family forced him to create a store location. This location was formerly the family dairy farm located on a back road in Farmers Valley, PA. That first Worth W. Smith Co. store became a famous landmark for those looking for the unusual.
My husband, Dennis Linn grew up in Portville and as a teen often traveled with his dad to Smith’s enterprise (late ‘50’s). He recalls multiple barns and buildings filled to the rafters with large, green, painted military hardware – cables, clavicles, straps, etc.
“All buildings were inter-connected; the portal from one to the other was canvas on the wall – pull that back and there was a whole new area to explore. You could find any nut, bolt, or washer. No order. Always a treasure hunt. My dad and I would go there to upgrade our farm hardware.”
Smith’s grandson, Nate Smith, writes on their store website an historical narrative of the old property and the huge building his grandfather finally built when he ran out of room in his barns. It’s a must read. Please go to www.worthwsmithcompany.com and enjoy for yourself. A little spooky, it’s perfect for the Halloween season.
As with many family businesses, Smith passed his company on to his son Dale Smith who, with his wife Cindy, in 1977, established one of the oldest businesses in the Greater Olean area on 1642 W. State Street. This store serves as the small chain’s flagship store and is known for its extensive, unique, but orderly inventory. Before you can say “add more stores” they did just that. And they added ownership of Rock City Park to their inventory. Before long, it was time to hand the enterprise off once again, this time to Dale and Cindy’s son, Nate and his wife Theresa Litchfield Smith. Theresa gives this newspaper its Ellicottville/Great Valley connection. She is the daughter of the Berry Patch Litchfield family on 5608 Humphrey Road at Peth Road in Great Valley. They, too, began small with strawberries and have increased their fresh crop inventory to offer Halloween pumpkins and cut your own Christmas trees. (716-945-5221)
Nate and Theresa will shortly be adding store number seven to their inventory. Between a family of four grown children, Rock City Park and soon seven stores, they have plenty on their plates. Nate clearly states that “without the energy and encouragement and power behind the sixty-plus staff we have at our locations, this would be impossible.” Their stores include locations at 1624 West State and 840 East State in Olean, 949 East Main Bradford PA, 147 Main, Eldred PA, 100 Main Suite 15 Salamanca NY, and 65 Genesee Cuba NY with their newest location at 30 E. Main Mt. Jewett PA. They are all open seven days a week with varying hours but each one is open Sundays from 9am to 3pm. That’s when a lot of nine-to-fivers do their projects, right?
Visit their flagship store in Olean to get a feel for the pride, passion and personality you will encounter at every location. I saw dill pickles on the shelf, an 80-quart stockpot, boots of every sort, gloves, and it’s not sure if Bigfoot visits every store but you can usually find him on West State along with a player piano, a cat, smiling aproned clerks ready to serve and a bag of popcorn for the road. Who needs more? As one visitor said, “if they don’t have it, you don’t need it.”