Smith, Orville Lemuel

Orville Lemuel Smith (July 18, 1850 - May 8, 1916) was a printing executive based in Denver, Colorado, best known as the longtime president of the Smith-Brooks Printing Co. Smith was born in Hudson Falls, New York, where as a youth he had some exposure to the printing trade. When he was 16 years old, he moved to Philadelphia where he gained further experience at a printing office. He worked as a journeyman printer throughout New York for most of the 1870s before moving to Kansas in 1878, seeking better opportunities. In the early 1880s, Smith and his family moved again, to Denver, where he worked as a printer at various newspapers. Here, Smith's fortunes improved dramatically. He was elected a member of the city's Board of Supervisors and then its president as well as president of the local chapter of the Typographical Union, an organization with which he was deeply involved for many years, including as a elegate to meetings of the International Typographical Union. In 1886, he founded his own printing firm with a partner, named Smith and Ferl, but it was soon (in 1889) superseded by the new firm Smith-Brooks Printing Co., founded with George W. Brooks. As both Smith and Brooks had themselves worked in the lower levels of the printing industry and been proud union members, they were pioneers in the industry in improving workers' conditions, being the first commercial printing in the United States to grant an eight-hour workday. The firm found rapid success and grew to become one of the largest publishing houses in the American West at the turn of the 20th century, employing between 200 and 300 workers. Popularly known as 'Yank' due to his New York roots, Smith was admired by his workers and colleagues and was seemingly a larger-than-life figure in all aspects, also being known as an avid outdoorsman who hunted and fished throughout Colorado. After Smith's death, his son Orville Lemuel Smith, Jr. (1873 - 1943) took over management of the firm. It continued to operate until the late 1960s, in its later years publishing works dealing with the history of Colorado.