The McMurray Towne Center complex of today was preceded by the I. W. Simpson & Sons Blacksmith Shop, followed by a combination general store, gas station, and barbecue shop called the McMurray Barbecue. The blacksmith shop stood at the intersection of what is now McMurray Road and Valley Brook Road. Isaac Wickliffe Simpson is pictured with his two sons, Frank Simpson and Guy Boyer Simpson. The McMurray Barbecue was later managed by C. A. Herbertson in the 1930s. It was sold to Donald Duckworth and his wife Peggy in 1949 and would later become the McMurray Dairy Bar.
