Emerson School, located north and just to the east of this shopping center on Campbell Road, was opened in 1940 as an orthopedic school, helping children in the La Crosse School District stricken with polio. Shortly after World War II, the residential Crowley Addition was developed and young couples with families began to fill this neighborhood. With the dreaded polio disease at bay and a the beginning of the baby boom hitting the schools, an addition to Emerson School in 1952 allowed the former Washington School to the west of the UWL campus to close.

Clarence B. Smith envisioned this growth and planned the first shopping center on Campbell Road between the campus and the elementary school. He carefully planted his drug store/soda fountain in a double spot and made sure that a grocery store, clothing and appliance store would help round out the different types of shopping as a destination east of downtown. Smith's Pharmacy occupied that spot at least until 1953 but sold it by 1955 to Degen-Berglund Pharmacy. Smith began to focus on another location in what became the Smith's Boulevard Store and later the Village Shop at the Village Shopping Center, another Smith owned enterprise. Smith left the pharmacy and retail business to become a realtor and developer.

At the time this shopping center opened in 1947, it was located across the street from the Fairgrounds area. Shortly after, the former harness race track area became Veterans' Memorial Stadium and was dedicated in 1948. The eastern edge of the Normal School (now the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse) was bordered by East Avenue until 1956 when the Board of Regents and the La Crosse City Council came to agreement on the former Fairgrounds land. Once this happened, the Smith Shopping Center was squarely across the street from the campus.

Today (2016) the original building still exists and continues to serve retail needs.