Wayland’s oldest business, Smith Lumber, has been sold

Smith Lumber & Coal, a more than a century old business in Wayland has been sold, but the new owner has not been disclosed and there has been no indication of what will happen to the ancient building.

The business was started in 1898 and it most recently was managed by Jay Leonard Smith, the third generation to lead the more than 100-year-old local business, located at the corner of Maple and Railroad streets. Much of Wayland’s history can be found inside the stately building and Jay L. himself spent a lot of time on the premises weekdays in recent years repairing screens and glass and mostly tinkering with what many would call Wayland’s closest thing to a museum. The building, which has been on the real estate market since Smith Lumber closed in 2005, houses plenty of artifacts and mementoes of days gone by.

Smith Lumber closed its doors after 107 years in business, and Jay L., in an interview in 2014, explained it was “for three reasons: Lowe’s, Menards and Home Depot.” He said nowadays people in the Wayland area do their shopping in Grand Rapids at the big box stores for one reason and one reason only — price.

Yet there was one more reason: The fourth generation of the Smith family, seeing the handwriting on the wall about future prospects, just wasn’t interested in keeping it going.

“I’ve had a daughter and a son and grandchildren who worked here, but they like the eight-hour work day,” Smith said, noting it’s extremely difficult to invest such commitment to a venture that finds it hard to compete with the big guys. Perhaps it could be called the Wal-Mart effect, in which local mom and pop operations go belly up because the bigger nearby suburban retail giants have larger selection and lower prices.

“My dad (Ivan D. Smith) told me a long time ago that if you do business in Wayland, you shop in Wayland. My family always did its shopping with Brooks Hardware, Weaver Hardware, Gurney’s IGA…

“Back in the day, when mothers didn’t work outside the home, they’d walk in town to do their shopping. And farmers and people who lived in nearby rural areas would come to town Saturdays and maybe even go to the Wayland Theatre.”

It was Smith’s grandfather, Jay Leroy Smith, who in 1898 founded the business, first known as J.L. Smith & Sons, setting up shop on North Main where Freda’s Fish Fry and Cindi’s Boutique most recently did business. The current site at 710 W. Maple St. was contructed in 1902 and at first served as a sort of warehouse that sometimes sold coal and cement.

The main store was general mercantile, handling farm equipment, hardware, paint, lumber and it had a livery stable.

Jay Leonard Smith said his grandfather once was approached by the Michigan Buggy Co. about selling its lines of horseless carriages, but nothing came of it.

Jay Leroy sold his business site in 1912 and moved operations to where the current quasi-museum exists. The new venture was called the Businessmen’s Paper Press because it included paper balers.

“He (Jay Leroy) was in the recycling business before it became politically correct,” Jay Leonard quipped.

Jay Leroy died in 1920 and his sons, Ivan D. (Ike) and Ezekial J. (Zeke) shared ownership and managerial responsibilities. The two began to withdraw from the baler business, which was becoming unprofitable, particularly during the Depression era.

Jay Leonard said the last local paper baler was sold to a Florida bank sometime during the 1950s as an antique.

Jay Leonard was born in 1938 and worked in the business during the 1950s, but Ike wanted him to earn a college degree, which he did with a bachelor of science in residential construction in 1960. Two years later he married Diane and served in the U.S. Army.

His military service was cut short by a few months because of the death of his uncle, Zeke, in 1963, so he came back home to get involved more heavily in the corporation, now called Smith Lumber & Coal, as a vice president. He took over as president in 1972 when his father died.

At one time, Wayland was home to four lumber companies and Smith Lumber had businesses in Hastings, Middleville and Shelbyville. It also owned Wayland Lumber Co.

All were sold eventually, and the one in Hastings was headed by Roger Wiswell and became Barry County Lumber, which has continues even to this day.

The aisles inside the building at 712 W. Maple St. were decorated with framed Wayland High School graduating classes, from 1929 to 1959, which Smith said would have been condemned to garbage receptacles had not his aunt, Miss Julia Smith, salvaged them back in 1974 while the move was being made from the old Pine Street school to the current facility on East Superior.

Other artifacts include old pictures of Wayland folks from a century ago, calendars from many different years advertising the Businessmen’s Paper Press, which was how Smith Lumber was known from 1912 to 1960, and a variety of tools and gadgets sold long ago inside the building.

Jay Leonard said Smith Lumber would be disbanded as a corporation when current building and property were sold. His wife, Diane, confirmed it was sold in October and there is some activity occurring at the site.

Jay L. and Diane Smith both served as grand marshals of the annual Wayland Christmas parade earlier this month.

PHOTOS: Smith Lumber & Coal more than 100 years ago.

The Smith Lumber & Coal building today.

Jay L. Smith   Diane Smith