Smithtown, A History: Early Shopping Experiences

When it comes to shopping, Smithtown residents start up their cars and drive to the local supermarket or shopping mall. But in the early days of our town, locals frequented general stores and other small businesses for their necessities.

While the may be the only one still standing in our township today, a few general stores were once located right along Main Street.

Near the corner of Route 111 and Main Street, where one now drives through and picks up a few things at The Barn, was the location of the Brush and Darling Store. According to , in 1850 Frank E. Brush originally built a feed shop here and when his father-in-law joined the business, the name was changed to the Brush and Darling Store.

After several years, Brush and Darling sold it, and the store became known as Conklin and Jayne’s, according to the scrap-book. In the early 1900s, once it was no longer used as a store, the structure became an Assembly Hall and then a theater called Old Town Theatre. It was 1966 when Dairy Barn opened on the property, and in 2010 The Barn bought the business out.

Further west on Main Street where we now find the former Colonial Furniture building, John S. Huntting opened a general store at the turn of the 20th century, which eventually became an A&P in the 1920s. The mercantile tradition began when his grandfather opened a store in his residence in 1846, according to Colonel Rockwell’s Scrap-book. The Huntting home was expanded on the west side, and the extension was used for a store as well as a post office.

Where the Bull statue stands today was the location of the River Store. According to a March 21, 1991 Smithtown News article by town historian Brad Harris, the structure was surrounded by two private residences and several barns. The store opened around 1860 and the owners were Jesse Mills, Egbert Mills, Moses R. Smith, Theron Smith and then Ethelbert Arthur. Until it burned down in 1912, Arthur ran the store.

The River Store also housed a post office in 1890 which Arthur ran, according to Smithtown, New York, 1660 – 1929: Looking Back Through the Lens by Noel Gish. About a decade later when a post office building was built across from the store, Arthur continued as postmaster.

Before this general store in the Head of the River area, the hosted a small store and post office. According to Gish’s writings, in 1819 one-time owner George S. Phillips was appointed postmaster.

While these few general stores no longer exist, Smithtown’s Main Street is still filled with small businesses continuing the tradition that began centuries ago in our town.