William Hood was a Scottish-born planter and merchant who began a general merchandise business with R. M. Martin, which they moved to the townsite they developed at Glen Flora. After their first store building burned, Hood retained Jules Leffland to replace it with a substantial, two-story brick building. Leffland employed his trademark combination of red and buff brick, which enabled him to highlight decorative passages on commercial buildings. Today, the Hood building is almost all that remains of Glen Flora's business district on Bridge Avenue.