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
During the years of the Great Depression, the money left by Thomas Stuart Smith failed to return much by way of interest. The building began to develop problems, made worse by the Second World War. By the 1960s, the underfunding and lack of development was serious, and the enduring memory that many Stirling citizens have of the building in this period is the sound of rain being caught in numerous metal buckets and tin cans, spread around the floor at strategic points.