[1] He is credited with spearheading several major infrastructure and redevelopment projects throughout Lancaster, including the conversion of the then-vacant Watt & Shand department store into the Lancaster County Convention Center and Marriott Hotel, as well as the construction of Clipper Magazine Stadium, the main Queen Street Station of the Red Rose Transit Authority, and Binns Park.
[2][3] He worked as a consultant for a number of Civil War era films and television series, including Gettysburg in 1993 and Lincoln in 2012.
[3] The Smithgall family operated a second pharmacy in Lancaster on Columbia Avenue until the store's closure in 2008.
[3] Smithgall was elected Mayor of Lancaster in 1997 after his predecessor, two-term Democrat Janice Stork, declined to run for a third term.
[3] Smithgall, a Republican, lost his re-election bid for a third term to Democrat Rick Gray in 2005.