High Street, Dundee (north side) - Ref: WC0311
This photograph shows the elegant building which forms the north-eastern end of Dundee's High Street, reading from west to east, left to right.
J. P. Smith & Sons was established in 1841 in a flat in High Street not far from what The Piper O' Dundee of 29th November 1899 calls 'the present palatial establishment', whose frontage was 'entirely remodeled and brightened'.
Mr Smith, it says, 'was one of the first business men in Dundee to realise the importance and value of newspaper advertising.' In the early 1870s, he had a shop in Reform Street, but secured new premises in High Street at the time of the 'improvements'.
Alexander Wilson who took this photograph, was a supervisor in a Dundee jute mill for over 20 years. He bequeathed much of his collection and £50, to cover the costs involved, to the Free Library Committee of Dundee in 1923.