Ella Gannt Smith, an artist and inventor, manufactured the famous Roanoke Dolls in this building. The completely handmade dolls featured heads molded of plaster of Paris enclosed in tight cotton fabric cut and stuffed to resemble bodies, hands, and legs, and each doll’s facial features were hand-painted so that no two were alike. At her death on April 2, 1932, Mrs. Smith held eleven patents. The factory, built by her husband, S. S. Smith, was later converted into an apartment house.