The following article is adapted from the Smith History Project (2003-04) for the West Hartford Sesquicentennial Celebration, by Nick DiNino and Luke Piscitelli.

The Hartford Courant, May 19, 1958. The caption reads as follows:

PRINCIPAL HONORED: Florence E. Smith School, West Hartford, will have a new principal next year. Miss Florence E. Smith, after whom the school is named, is retiring in June. At a reception in her honor held at the school Sunday, Miss Smith was presented with a portrait. She is shown receiving the picture from Mrs. Christine F. Jacobsen, president of the Smith PTA (Courant photo by Arthur J. Warmsley)

The old Smith School before it was demolished in 1977. Called the Seymour School since it opened in 1915, the school was renamed in 1949 in honor of its principal from 1926-1958, Florence E. Smith.

(cont.)  As the neighborhood expanded, the student population increased to more than 700 students. The lower grades had twice as many students as was the norm in West Hartford, making Seymour School the largest school in town. To address the overflow, part of the district, containing 143 students, was transferred to East School (now Whiting Lane School). Charter Oak School was built in 1931, and the district boundary line was moved to St. Charles Street.

The smaller school population stabilized until the construction of an apartment complex on Oakwood Avenue. Again Smith became too crowded, and the sixth grade and an additional section of the district transferred to Whiting Lane.

Finally, in March 1977, the school was demolished as part of a $2.3 million renovation. The result was “a whole new and very cheerful atmosphere,” according to Principal Judd Marble. Yet in the fall of 1980, Smith closed due to decreased enrollment.

"The whole school was cheering," said Dr. List. "The kids have been aware that we were nominated, and every day they would ask me if I had heard anything. They have been very much the heart of the process."

Smith School reopened in 1996 as West Hartford’s third magnet school, with a focus on science, math and technology. Under the direction of its principal Dr. Karen List (currently Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, West Hartford Public Schools), Smith was nationally recognized in 2001 as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education.

Smith School opened on November 1, 1915, in West Hartford, Connecticut, with Marjory Harvey as its first principal. At that time the school was called Seymour School, named after the street where it was located. The school was built by the H.B. Hibbard Company of New Britain under the direction of supervising engineer Henry A. Wolcott, at a cost of $62,000. Seymour School had eight classrooms, two smaller rooms, two cafeterias, an assembly hall with a gallery, and a large room used as a gymnasium. The building was situated on four acres of property.

Helen Hudson became principal in 1917, followed by Dorothy Maxfield in 1922 and Florence E. Smith in 1926. Miss Smith would serve as Seymour School's principal for 32 years, and in 1946 the school was renamed in her honor. By the mid-1920s the neighborhood was growing so rapidly that eight more rooms were added to the school.