Cecil Smith
1938 - 2020
Born in Pasadena, California in 1938, he and his wife Martha Spayner Smith, of Louisville, moved to Washington County in 1965, when he was hired as managing editor of the Salem Leader and the Salem Democrat. Cecil had met Martha while he was serving in the U.S. Army, as a photographer, stationed at Fort Knox. When the couple moved to Salem, they purchased the historic old home of the late Prince Huston at 505 North Water Street, which they have maintained wonderfully over the years. Cecil an avid train enthusiast had soon converted an old carriage house that sat behind his residence into his own railroad museum, complete with an elaborate HO gauge model railway system that spanned nearly the entire length of the building and had numerous separate active train sets involved. He conducted many free tours of this building, for over 30 years, for individuals, groups, organizations and school children.
After his retirement, Cecil was the driving force, behind a team of many responsible for the successful construction and completion of the Monon railroad museum, The Depot, at the John Hay Center, in September of 2001. The Smiths have donated nearly every piece of their personal model train and railroad memorabilia collection to this facility, not to mention the unknown amount of countless volunteer hours Cecil has donated as the primary designer, decorator and stationmaster of The Depot for the past 13 years. He also serves as Secretary for the Monon Historical Society, which is now headquartered here and from 2009 to 2014 he was the Washington County Historian. Tapping into his expertise, Cecil has voluntarily served as the managing editor for the Washington County Historical Society's bi-yearly publication, "The Historian", since its debut in 2010 and the Monon Historical Society's publication, "The Hoosier Line". He is a frequent contributing author to both publications, as well. Cecil's love and knowledge of trains, model trains, the Monon and railroads in general, is irreproachable and as Cecil himself, has been a tremendous asset to the historical society
