Franklin Webster Smith

Smith’s religious convictions led him to play an important role in the founding of the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in the America during the 1850s. Through this work, Smith sought to promote moral development, education, and social responsibility among young men.

Franklin Smith’s contributions to the Boston YMCA:

• He was a founding member of the Boston Association – America’s first YMCA – established on December 29, 1851, and co-authored its original constitution.
• Between 1852 and 1854, he helped organize additional YMCA associations in New York and Philadelphia, expanding the movement nationally.
• He served in multiple leadership roles within the Boston YMCA, including Vice President in 1855 and President in 1858, while also participating on governing boards.
• As President in 1858, he organized a large Fair at Tremont Temple, one of the organization’s most significant early fundraisers.
• In 1872, when the Boston YMCA lost its longtime meeting place at Tremont Temple and faced a six-week relocation deadline, Smith organized the ambitious “Bazaar of the Nations,” a major fundraising success that secured resources for a permanent home.
• He organized Bible studies, delivered educational lectures such as “Christian Missions” and “Italy,” and gave an address at the dedication of the Boston YMCA’s new building in 1873.

By combining business success with reform-minded ideals, global exploration, and artistic curiosity, Smith emerged as a distinctive nineteenth-century figure. After a career-altering event in the 1860s, his vision expanded beyond commerce to encompass social reform, cultural education, and architectural innovation—leaving a lasting impact on communities from Boston to St. Augustine and throughout America.

Tremont Temple is a historic Baptist church in downtown Boston that played a major role in the city’s religious, social, and abolitionist history. Throughout the mid-19th century, it served as a vital center for the abolitionist movement, hosting rallies, lectures, and mass meetings opposing slavery. Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895), one of the nation’s most influential abolitionists, spoke there on multiple occasions. During this same period, Franklin W. Smith was frequent at Tremont Temple. Following a fire in 1852, Smith contributed his architectural expertise to the restoration of the building. From 1851 to 1872, the Boston YMCA met at the church for nearly 20 years before establishing its own facility.

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), the business dealings of Smith Brothers & Company placed Franklin W. Smith in close contact with the federal government’s wartime purchasing system. While working with naval supply contracts, Smith became aware of widespread corruption in the awarding of military contracts.

Guided by strong moral and religious convictions, Smith chose to expose these abuses rather than remain silent. His actions led to a dramatic legal conflict during the war. In 1864, the Smith brothers were arrested and convicted in a military court, a dramatic fall from favor that reflected the political tensions and corruption surrounding wartime contracting. After reviewing the case in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln ultimately issued the brothers a presidential pardon just weeks before his assassination.

The experience marked a turning point in Smith’s life, illustrating his commitment to integrity, reform, and moral accountability even at great personal and professional risk. After retiring from the hardware trade, he increasingly devoted his energy to public service, reform, and civic improvement.

Smith later pursued a variety of business and philanthropic ventures, including iron shipbuilding, manufacturing, and real estate development. He became active in civic and reform organizations, most notably serving as president of the Boston Board of Aid to Land Ownership, which sought to divert unemployed industrial workers to develop agricultural communities such as Rugby, Tennessee.

Throughout his life, Smith participated in numerous civic, religious, and commercial institutions, including:

• Founding member of Boston YMCA
• Early member of Republican Party in Boston
• Boston Associated Board of Trade
• National Board of Trade
• Boston Baptist Social Union
• Boston Board of Aid to Land Ownership
• Treasurer, Atlantic Iron Works, builders of iron ships
• Member of the St Augustine Yacht Club

Smith’s journey from successful merchant to outspoken reformer reflected his broader nineteenth-century belief that business success carried a responsibility to improve American society.

Franklin Smith married Laura Augusta Bevan in early 1861. During their honeymoon, the couple attended the inaugural ball of Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C. on March 4, 1861. Laura wore her wedding gown to the celebration, and the popular illustrated newspaper, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, reported that she was considered among the most beautiful women in attendance.

The couple had three children. Their first son, Flagg (Frank) Bevan Smith, died in infancy in September 1861. Their son George Stuart Smith later worked as a newspaper editor in New York City and remained unmarried until his death in 1920.

Their daughter, Nina Larrey Duryea (1868–1951), gained international recognition for her humanitarian service during and after World War I. She later became a successful author and inventor. In 1927 she developed a textile fabric called torso-lite, which was used during World War II in the manufacture of protective chest armor for U.S. Army personnel.

In 1844 Franklin W. Smith began his career at eighteen years old as an independent hardware importer operating out of the Port of Boston at 32 Dock Square.

Smith Brothers & Company was established in 1855 by brothers Franklin and Benjamin Greene Smith (1816-1899). The company was a substantial hardware importing and merchant firm serving the busy ports of Boston and New York City. The brothers came from a family deeply connected to maritime trade. Their grandfather was a shipbuilder, and their father worked in the Mediterranean wholesale fruit business, Maine coasting trade, and served as the City of Boston’s Port Warden.

Benjamin Smith began importing hardware in Boston in 1838. In 1844, he transferred the business to his younger brother Franklin. In 1855, the brothers joined forces under Smith Brothers & Foster, later expanding the firm as Smith Brothers & Company with a warehouse, sales office, and sample room in New York.

The company supplied a wide variety of goods to merchants, shipbuilders, and naval buyers, including hardware, tools, cutlery, firearms, and raw materials essential to nineteenth-century shipping and commerce.

By the early 1860s the firm had become an important supplier to the United States Navy, providing large quantities of hardware and military supplies during the American Civil War.

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What Did the Smith Brothers Sell?

Operating from the busy ports of Boston and New York, Smith Brothers & Company supplied the equipment needed to support nineteenth-century shipping, commerce, and naval operations.  From hardware, tools and raw materials to axes, cutlery and guns, the brothers played a vital role in supplying the Union with the goods and materials it needed to preserve America.

Typical items included:

• Guns and Cutlery
  Guns, gun components, knives, meat cutters
• Tools & Implements
  Screwdrivers, wrenches, flat-nose pliers, files, carpenter tools, shovels, axes, manure forks, jacks, iron grinders
• Hardware & Fasteners
  Nails, screws, tacks, brads, coffin pins, coffin screws, ox bow pins, chain
• Agricultural & Marine Supplies
  Boat anchors, manure forks, ox bow pins
• Industrial & Raw Materials
  Iron, tin, beeswax, emery cloth, sulfuric acid, paper
• Personal, Grooming & Miscellaneous Goods
  Shaving brushes, paint brushes, pencils, cologne

Exposing Corruption in the Navy

While working as a Navy contractor, Smith uncovered widespread misconduct within naval bureaus. He documented and challenged bribery, fraudulent billing, and bid-rigging, and presented this evidence before congressional committees. By publicly naming wrongdoing, Smith gained a reputation as a determined reformer while also making powerful enemies within the Navy.

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Arrest Without Warning

On June 17, 1864 Smith was abruptly arrested by military forces without a warrant or formal charges. Only a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, calling for his arrest was provided. He was taken across Boston Harbor to Fort Warren on Georges Island and held in isolation.

At the same time:

• His business office was raided and records seized
• His home was searched and private family letters confiscated
• His brother and business partner, Benjamin Greene Smith, was also arrested

Smith’s wife, who was pregnant, and his elderly parents learned of the arrest only after the invasion of their home. The business the Smith had built over twenty years was forced to close under military guard.

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A Civilian on Trial

Although bail was eventually set at an extraordinary $500,000, Boston merchants pledged nearly $1 million in support. Even so, Smith was denied meaningful access to legal counsel and ordered to face a naval court martial, military trial for a civilian—far from his home and witnesses.

Navy officials accused Smith of supplying inferior materials and manipulating contract bids. The evidence was weak and repeatedly challenged, leading many to view the case as retaliation for Smith’s whistleblowing.

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Political Intervention

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Verdict and Presidential Pardon

After a four-month trial, Smith successfully demonstrated that he had acted honestly and earned only modest profits. Despite this, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to two years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

 

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Timeline: The Smith Case

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  Early 1860s
  Smith supplies materials to the U.S. Navy and uncovers corruption in naval contracting.

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  1863–1864
  Smith testifies before Congress and publishes evidence of bribery and fraud.

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  June 17, 1864
  Smith is arrested without a warrant and imprisoned at Fort Warren; his business and home are raided.

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  July 1864
  Bail set at $500,000; Boston merchants rally in support.

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  September 1864 – January 1865
  Smith stands trial before a naval court-martial in Boston.

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  January 1865
  Smith is convicted and sentenced to prison and a heavy fine.

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  March 18, 1865
  President Abraham Lincoln overturns the conviction and frees Smith.

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Though later fully exonerated and recognized for his integrity, Smith’s hardware import business never recovered. In the aftermath, Smith drew inspiration from his world travels and shifted his focus to improving America through many projects that led to architectural innovation and education of ancient cultures.

“I am unwilling for the sentence to stand, and be executed, to any extent in this case. In the absence of a more adequate motive than the evidence discloses, I am wholly unable to believe in the existence of criminal or fraudulent intent on the part of men of such well-established good character. If the evidence went as far to establish a guilty profit of one or two hundred thousand dollars, as it does of one or two hundred dollars, the case would, on the question of guilt, bear a far different aspect. That on this contract, involving some twelve hundred thousand dollars, the contractors would plan, and attempt to execute a fraud which, at the most, could profit them only one or two hundred, or even one thousand dollars, is to my mind beyond the power of rational belief that they did not, in such a case, make far greater gains, proves that they did not, with guilty or fraudulent intent, make at all. The judgment and sentence are disapproved, and declared null, and the defendants are fully discharged.”

A. Lincoln. March 18, 1865.

In early 1866, Franklin Webster Smith published The Conspiracy in the United States Navy Department Against Franklin W. Smith of Boston, 1861–1865 (on display downstairs in the “Hall of Justice”), a self-authored exposé alleging corruption and misuse of wartime authority within the U.S. Navy. Smith argued that emergency powers had been used to conceal fraud—such as inflated contracts—and to pursue personal vendettas, raising broader concerns about executive overreach during the Civil War.

After five years of legal and political struggle, the mental and financial strain took a heavy toll on Smith. In the years following the war, Smith turned to his love of travel and architecture as sources of renewal and purpose. As the American economy slowly recovered, he and his family traveled extensively through England, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, and the Middle East. Over his lifetime, he undertook at least nineteen Grand Tours of Europe closely studying the history, art, architecture, religion, manners, and customs of ancient nationalities.

Between journeys, Smith invested in efforts to improve American life. He worked with the Boston Board of Aid to Land Ownership to assist those affected by the postwar depression and pursued architectural reconstruction projects in St. Augustine, Saratoga Springs, and Washington, D.C., helping transform these communities into emerging tourist destinations

Smith’s passion for architecture began as early as 1851. After returning from a trip to England, he sought ways to revisit the places he had seen. Because photography offered limited detail, Smith began constructing miniature models of historic buildings. In the 1880s, he expanded this practice into full-scale architectural reconstructions, most notably Villa Zorayda, his winter home in St. Augustine inspired by Spain’s Alhambra, and The Pompeia in Saratoga Springs, a reconstruction of Italy’s ancient House of Pansa.

Smith’s early life shaped a worldview many contemporaries considered ahead of its time. Extensive travel abroad, more than a decade of leadership within the Young Men’s Christian Association of Boston, and involvement in Boston’s Republican reform movement shaped his beliefs about morality, education, and civic responsibility.

Living through a period of rapid industrial expansion, Smith witnessed the dramatic rise of American wealth during the Gilded Age and questioned its purpose. He believed prosperity alone was insufficient and asked how this new fortune might serve the public good. To Smith, America’s industrial leaders had a duty to elevate the nation culturally and intellectually, placing it on equal footing with Europe.

This conviction, that wealth must serve education, culture, and ethical progress, guided Franklin Smith’s lifelong pursuits.

The Hard Times; Agricultural Development the True Remedy

Rugby Tennessee — The Importance of Agriculture

The decade after the American Civil War became known as the Long Depression (1873–1879). The crisis began with the Panic of 1873, when the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company—a major investor in the Northern Pacific Railway—collapsed. Bank and railroad failures followed, leaving thousands of industrial workers unemployed.

Boston reformer Franklin W. Smith believed agricultural development offered a solution. In 1877 he published The Hard Times; Agricultural Development the True Remedy, arguing that unemployed workers should be redirected from overcrowded factories to undeveloped farmland to relive economic hardship.
(An original signed 1877 copy of Smith’s book is displayed in the “Hall of Justice” downstairs.)

To test this idea, Smith and fellow Bostonians formed the Boston Board of Aid to Land Ownership in 1877. Their goal was to move surplus labor from “overfull workshops” to the “tillage of the earth—the basis of all industries, and the primary source of all wealth.”

After surveying agricultural regions across the South and West, Smith—then President of the Board—visited the highlands of East Tennessee in 1878. After six months of travel, the Board concluded the plateau region offered exceptional promise for settlement.

Smith organized and plotted the town’s early planning and named the settlement Plateau City, but new investors soon shifted its direction as the national economy improved. English reformer Thomas Hughes envisioned the settlement as a utopian colony for younger sons of English gentry, offering opportunity beyond rigid social structures of England. The resulting community is known today as Rugby, Tennessee.

With two competing visions for the settlement, Smith’s agricultural labor experiment and Hughes’ English social colony, Smith ultimately withdrew from the project and moved on to his next endeavor.

A Vision That Transformed the City

Franklin Smith’s vision for the architecture and method of construction of his winter home, Villa Zorayda, marked a turning point in the history of St Augustine. What had long been a quiet colonial settlement and trading port began to transform into a fashionable Gilded Age winter retreat.

Inspired by Architecture in Spain

Reviving Ancient Building Methods

Influenced by the man-made stone construction methods of the Egyptians, Romans, and the builders of the Alhambra, Smith developed a process using Portland cement mixed with locally sourced coquina and sand. The mixture was poured into wooden forms, layer by layer, creating a durable artificial stone structure. His poured-concrete construction echoed the historic coquina stone masonry structures of St Augustine (Castillo de San Marcos fort) with the ancient man-made stone constructions he drew inspiration from while traveling abroad. 

An Architectural Revolution

In the late nineteenth century, poured concrete construction became a defining building method in St. Augustine, Florida, helping spark an architectural transformation across the city.

 

Smith’s experiment helped launch a new architectural era. Poured concrete soon defined many of the city’s most prominent buildings, including Smith’s own Casa Monica Hotel and projects developed by Henry Flagler. With the arrival of Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway, St. Augustine evolved from a quiet colonial port into America’s premier Gilded Age winter resort, its skyline reshaped by the new possibilities of concrete architecture.

Why Concrete Mattered

St. Augustine, Florida experienced a long history of devastating fires due to its reliance on wooden buildings and limited fire protection. Major fires occurred in 1586, 1599, 1668, 1887, 1895, and 1914, repeatedly destroying large portions of the city.

The poured concrete construction introduced by Franklin W. Smith offered a revolutionary alternative.

Smith promoted concrete as a building material that was:

• Imperishable by fire or decay
• Impervious to moisture and vermin
• Durable, requiring minimal external repairs
• Adaptable for detailed architectural ornament
• Affordable, using locally available materials and unskilled labor
• Proven to stand the test of time

Smith’s innovation helped transform St. Augustine’s architecture, replacing vulnerable wooden structures with fire-resistant concrete buildings that still define the city today.

Thomas Edison, one of America’s most influential inventors, occasionally visited St. Augustine during the late nineteenth century. In a 1910 letter to Smith’s son, George, Thomas Edison reflected on Smith’s legacy and his forward-thinking approach to concrete construction:

I remember your father and his remarkable work. He was the first man to my knowledge to erect any important building by methods now used all over the world.

 Thomas Edison, 1910