Robert A. Smiley was a longtime fixture in town who held several functions over the years including Deputy Sealer of Weights & Measures and census taker. He emigrated from Ireland in 1872 and soon began working as a sign painter for B. F. Baker where he remained for over three decades continuing with a later owner, Daniel Hunt.

[Courtesy of the Digital Commonwealth (CC BY-NC-ND). From the Brookline Photograph Collection published by the Public Library of Brookline]