The roots of our Company go back to 1945.  With World War II coming to a close, my grandfather, Walter E. Smithe, Sr., sensed the potentially great demand for household products.  Forming a partnership with Bill Shanahan, Grandpa Smithe started "Tone Appliances and Furniture" on the northwest side of Chicago.  

With all the returning veterans, pent up demand and a peacetime economy, business was good.  Soon after opening, the two entrepreneurs decided that it made good business sense to put their own names on the front door.  It was not long until "Smithe and Shanahan" became a well-known name on Belmont Avenue.  Shortly after, Bill Shanahan decided that he did not want to expand the business, and he sold his share of the business to my great uncle, Charles Smithe.

The fifties were a time of growth in our Company's size and the diversity of the products we sold.  Household appliances, furniture and a hot new item, television, kept the cash register ringing.  The fledgling Company expanded into kitchen cabinets and furniture.  During the busy sixties, my father, Walter E. Smithe, Jr., joined the Company after working in the computer industry with the Army, General Electric and IBM.  He pioneered the concept of custom order upholstery in Chicagoland.  This is a specialty where Walter E. Smithe continues to define the cutting edge.  His leadership refocused the Company to an image still recognizable today.  

In the late seventies, I joined the Company and, in fact, sold the last refrigerator as we phased out of the appliance business.  In the early eighties, my father and I were joined by my brothers Tim and Mark, sister Margie and, over time, many other talented associates.

Walter E. Smithe III