The E. I. Dupont de Nemours company purchased a saw mill complex from Benjamin Smith in the area of Standish known as Smith's Mills about 1907. This complex was located within two miles of the Portland Water District's Intake on Sebago Lake. During World War I, this saw mill manufactured munitions boxes, but after World War I, Dupont closed the mill and offered to sell it's complex to the Portland Water District.

The District, having been concerned for years by the mill's proximity to the Intake and the pollution it caused, bought the sawmill and the village of Smith's Mills from Dupont. Dupont relocated the mill, the buildings were removed (some by sale and some by demolition) and the property was reforested to protect the Lake's watershed.