Artists, photographers and antique collectors are as likely as automobile buffs to show up in the waning days of business at SMW Paint and Auto Supply. Hand-written deeds from the 1800s and 1939 Packard automobile parts will do that.
The shop at First and Jefferson streets in Springfield is expected to close in a couple of weeks and be demolished soon thereafter. That will end a nearly 90-year run that began with stocking tires, paint and parts for the Model T.
For 55 of those years, the business has been in the family of 79-year-old Betty Ruth Hart.
“It was a hard decision. Do I want to or do I not? This has been my life. I was raised here, but it was time to give it up,” she said.
Cracks that appeared in an east wall and a generally aging building speeded the decision, said her son, Mike Hart, who owns the adjoining First Street Auto Body & Towing. Hart said the cracks might have been linked to the cleanup of an old coal-gasification site nearby, though that’s not certain.
“It was too much to fix than it was to tear it down,” said Mike Hart. He plans to convert the site to parking for the body shop.
Sewing machine, good as money
One of the favorite family stories is about Betty Ruth Hart’s father, Amos Allen, and his agreement to accept a sewing machine from a customer in lieu of money at the depths of the Great Depression. Allen joined SMW at age 17 in 1928. He was paid $12 a week.
“I’ve already taken the sewing machine home,” said Betty Ruth.
There are plenty of reminders, however, of the early history of Springfield at First and Jefferson. One of the oldest, neatly hand-written in cursive page after page, is a record-of-deeds document with entries dating to the 1820s. Speed forward a century or so, and a backroom is stocked with rocker panels (fender parts) dating to the 1930s. The inventory is a reminder of the parts business that eventually was phased out in favor of paint supplies.
Amos Allen bought the business in 1955 from founding partners William Stowell, Alfred Mills and Carlin Whittaker (whose initials make up the SMW). He bought the building in 1964 for $35,000.
Just how long the building has been at the corner, the family is not sure. But even third-generation family members remember when a bakery and grocery store were within easy walking distance.
“We all grew up here, including the grandkids and great-grandkids,” said Hart’s daughter, Amy Cunningham, who also works at the business. She plans to move next door to her brother’s body shop once the store closes.
Ladders and jukeboxes
Betty Ruth Hart said she also grew up at her father’s business, eventually joining it as a bookkeeper.
“He told me bookkeeping was just as important as the other jobs,” said Hart, who became sole owner in 1979. Her late husband, Ernest, retired from a Fiatalis plant in Springfield.
Hart said one of her earliest memories of SMW was of a wheeled ladder used to pull parts and paint from upper shelves.
“I remember my dad would give me rides on it. My kids rode it, and probably my grandkids,” said Hart. The ladder will remain in use until the business closes, when it will go to her daughter’s home.
The family has spent much of the last few weeks sorting through inventory, trying to clear out as much as possible before the shutdown. Any unsold paint will go next door to the body shop. But some of the buyers are not what might be expected.
There was the jukebox collector who bought a pack of six-volt light bulbs originally intended for automobiles.
“Back in the 50s, the bulbs would fit both systems (jukeboxes and cars),” said Mike Hart.
Photographers have inquired about buying pieces of the multi-colored floor for use as backdrops. Artists and collectors have asked about the decorative tin dropped ceiling panels, as well as the flooring.
“If you spilled paint, you just spread it out,” he said in explaining the multiple hues on the floor.
Still a busy corner
“I must have driven by here a million times,” said Springfield resident Nelson Blakely, who stopped in last week in hopes of finding a fender clip for the 1939 Packard convertible he is restoring.
Blakely said he was never a regular customer, but that he had heard via the grapevine of the vintage parts at SMW. He didn’t find the clip, but Betty Ruth Hart was quick to offer a 1939 Packard fender panel from the stockroom.
No sale, but Blakely said he would keep it in mind.
“We’re not going to be here much longer,” said a smiling Hart.
Her immediate plans are to keep busy with church activities once the business is closed. But neither does the word “retirement” come easy. Hart said she might help out at the remaining family business — from time to time.
“I’ll help when I’m needed. I guess they can’t get rid of me,” she said.
Tim Landis can be reached at 788-1536
About SMW Paint and Auto Supply
* Partners William Stowell, Alfred Mills and Carlin Whittaker started the business in 1921 at 430 S. Fourth St.
* Amos Allen joined the business at age 17 in 1928 at $12 a week. SMW relocated to 326 N. Sixth St. in 1931.
* Moved to current location, 100 W. Jefferson St., in 1944.
* Allen’s daughter, Betty Ruth Hart, took over the business in 1979.
Source: “Springfield Memories” – The State Journal-Register
Read the original article from The State Journal-Register.
