Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
The Smith Institute first opened to the public on 11 August 1874. It was an occasion for great celebration in Stirling, and the shops in the town closed at 12 noon to allow people to attend the opening. Nevertheless, there were some mixed feelings, for Thomas Stuart Smith, had died in 1869 and the location of the building was felt by many people to be too far away from the old town.
Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
"When the museum collections were in storage in the old High School (now the Highland Hotel) we made use of five rooms on the main wing, three on the ground floor and two above. The third room on the second floor was not used for anything important as it had a tendency to flood in heavy rain. The water came in at one point and, had to be collected, otherwise it could have flooded the room below which did contain museum objects. We did this with a fifty gallon oil drum and during wet weather it was part of the routine to check if the drum was filling. When it was sufficiently full (not too heavy) it was dragged over to the door that connected to the spiral staircase below the observatory and tipped down the stair. There was no other way to remove the water. Luckily these stairs went all the way to ground level and out onto Spittal Street. It must have been a strange sight to see a rush of water out of the bottom door but no-one ever mentioned it."