. >> reporter: on east main street in grafton. new life is coming to this building, built in 1859. >> tribute to family. >> reporter: marine corps veteran, gene smith, always wanted to open an art gallery of his own. after studying art history tin college his heart was set. >> we wanted to do it for a long time. my wife was with me for 58 years. >> reporter: the two moved to gr grafton. it has the largest per-capita population of veterans at 17%. it was a perfect fit. the dream came to fruition decades later, opening grafton art gallery. >> we have so many talents locally here. >> reporter: the gallery will showcase veteran artwork. >> gorgeous art, people expressing themselves, and they've elevated grafton. >> reporter: that includes drawings from grafton mayor who served in the military for 30 years. he even published his own book. >> when i was deployed to kuwait for the kuwait war, we didn't have then cell phone, e-mail, none of that thing and didn't have, basically, cameras. so i took my sketchbook, pens and papers. there's a