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- Franklin R. "Frank" Smith
- A pioneer doctor in Grand Junction. He was born in Iowa to Samuel Smith and Margaret (Reun) Smith. He married Mary Anne "Minnie" Laird in 1884. He moved with his wife to Colorado because he suffered from tuberculosis, and believed that someone in his condition should be in a dry climate and outdoors no matter the weather. His illness was so severe that he had a lung removed prior to moving. His family was near destitute because he could not work. The family moved first to Colorado Springs in 1892, and then to Grand Junction around 1895. The family moved several times in Grand Junction, living at one time next to a saloon at 4th and Main Streets, behind the Brownson’s store. Their first “real” home in town was at 444 Rood Avenue, on the site of the current Valley Federal building. They also lived in the Crawford Addition, a location near the Masonic Temple, and then finally at 1130 Chipeta Avenue. He was known as an eccentric, who, as his granddaughter Linamae (Smith) Biggs says, was rough on his patients, and who believed in cleanliness to a fault. Nevertheless, his son Silmon Smith indicates that Frank became a prominent person in Grand Junction society. He went to the Ute reservation in Utah whenever a smallpox epidemic broke out there. He was interested in raising fruit and was one of the organizers of the Grand Junction Fruit Growers Association. In the 1890's, he purchased land containing what some believe to be the first apple orchard in the Grand Valley, on First Fruitridge. He was a member of the Grand Junction City Council. As a council member, he aided in updating the town’s drinking water supply, which at that time, came up through a standpipe at the intersection of Ouray Avenue and 7th Street, and pumped unclean water from the Gunnison River at the 5th Street bridge. He served as the Mesa County Coroner. He had a drawer full of pistols confiscated after a death, with most of them coming from suicide victims. He was an avid photographer who used a Clegg camera and enjoyed taking photos at the rodeo. When his health failed, he established a ranch in Imperial Valley, California, where he died.