History

Ye Olde Sign Shoppe at the American Sign Museum

Signs, photos, and other artefacts from sign shops of old in the American Sign Museum's collections.

Better Letters

Mar 20, 2025 • 7 min read

Tilden, Nebraska, was once served for up-to-date signs by Russell & Sons.

During my week at the American Sign Museum, I was blown away by the history preserved there in terms of old sign firms, sign painters, and gilders — see searches for 'sign painter' and 'sign shop' in their online collections for example.

I featured some of these — Beverly Sign Co., George C. Brooke, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., Keith Knecht, Raymond LeBlanc, and Mike Stevens — in last week's post, so the following is more of a photo dump of other 'ye olde sign shoppes' that can be found at the museum.

I've had to resist the urge to get into local historical research for these, but if you have any knowledge to add, then I'd be happy to edit accordingly.

'Ye Olde Sign Shoppe' is a regular column in BLAG (see all back issues), and one of my favourite research topics. There are dozens of bl.ag online pieces with the 'ye olde sign shop' tag, and I'm always excited to hear new and interesting stories: please share yours by emailing sam@bl.ag.

Original Sign Designs

Let's pick up more or less where we left off with the 1941 Original Sign Designs book.

Brown Sign Co.

These sequential pages show the design by J.L. Beardsley and a photo of its fabrication following a few small adjustments.

Wittich / Hastings Co.

The credit on this page reads "Hastings Co., Philadelphia, PA". It's not clear to me if the firm is Wittich or Hastings Co., as the latter doesn't seem to correspond to an easily identifiable location in/near Philadelphia.

Art Deco shopfront and signage, with the facsia saying 'Wittich' and a protruding sign that says 'Signs'.

Vehicle Evolution

Next up some pairings of sign shops with vehicles, theirs or otherwise, outside.

Wilmore & Co. / A.A. Ritter

Let's take it right back to when sign painters used to get to jobs on a penny-farthing bicycle. (Check out this bl.ag online feature for more sign painters on two wheels.)

Group of men posing outside a shop that's adorned with a host of signs above the doorway and across the first floor. These advertise their sign business, and there is a penny-farthing style bicycle propped up outside too. — My guess for the whited-out letters is 'Company' to read 'Wilmore & Company' with the ampersand above the window.

The new sign placed above the doorway advertises A.A. Ritter, perhaps placing the photo to a time when this sign painter took over the Willmore & Co. firm.

Detail of one of the signs from the picture above. It has a variety of ornate lettering styles, blended with pictorials and decorative elements, and reads "A.A. Ritter, Sign Painting and Decorator for the Trade". — Looks like an ornate piece of reverse glass work in the frame.

Ryan Signs

Check out the massive manicule/printer's fist pointing to the way in to Chas. Ryan's shop, which is located above a restaurant and a barbers.

Russell & Sons

Here's Russell and his sons with their well-appointed mode of transport for big signs in Tilden, Nebraska.

Men in overalls posing on/in front of an old car that's hitched to a large trailer adorned with a sign advertising their business that reads "Russell & Sons, Up-to-Date Painters, Paperhangers & Decorators" along with listings of other services. — Russell & Sons are proudly sponsored by Red Seal White Lead, whose mascot bears an uncanny resemblance to the Dutch Boy brand.

Yes, that sign on the floor really does say "paint with pure white lead and end your troubles", if you work your way around the layout in the right way. In fact, as we now know, lead spells trouble.

Poorly laid out and painted sign that says "Paint with pure white lead and end your troubles". — Maybe one of the sons did this one.

Neon Breakdown

Is the guy on the left the mechanic, or the sign man expressing frustration with the pace of this tyre change?

1940s style vehicle jacked up to change a tyre, and a man to the right looking at it with a despairing gesture. The car itself is lettered all over with signage for an un-named neon sign sales and repair business.

R. & H. Strachan, Inc.

"We made signs before we could talk" and we're ready to make more in Brooklyn, New York.

Man casually posing with his elbow leaning on the window ledge of his large truck. The vehicle is loaded with ladders and other sign painting equipment, and the lettering on its side reads "'We made signs before we could talk', R&H Strachan, Signs, Electric, Neon, Brooklyn, NY", along with phone contact information. — I think that Strachan has a brother of the brush in Cuba.

Anon., Lufkin, Texas

And, finally, bringing things into the modern era.

Truck parked outside of workshop premises and subtely adorned with signs that say "Signs". A sign mounted on a pole in front of the workshop says "Signs, Quality Sign Service, Neon".

If you enjoyed those, then get right up-to-date with this extended photo post of contemporary sign painter vehicles.

Self-Promotion

'Be wise, advertise' they say, and the sign game is no different.

Pierrepont Signs, Inc.

These blocks were produced for printing advertisements in newspapers and magazines, most likely Signs of the Times in this case. Pierrepont Signs is still trading in Rochester, New York.

Printing block with an advertisement for Pierrepont signs engraved into the metal face that's mounted onto a piece of wood. — The blocks would be positioned alongside others, and/or with type, to set the page for printing.

I've flipped these two over so that you can also see the layout as it would have appeared in print, although in negative, as the lighter parts here are where the ink would be taken, while the darker parts remained white/the colour of the paper.

Face of a printing block shown as it is and then flipped horizontally to read correctly. It is an advertisement for the various sign services offer by Pierrepont Signs.

Geo. C. Kirn & Co.

These look to be original artwork for reproduction at smaller sizes, perhaps as trade or business cards, or in press.

Extreme vertical artwork advertising "Geo C. Kirn & Co., Advertising & Commercial Signs, High Grade Pictorial Work a Specialty". The address is also given as 18 So. Broadway. Different parts of the lettering are set in front of, and behind, two overlapping feathers placed symmetrically on either side, and then behind those are two paint brushes. — This relatively large piece is marked up with the reproduction size of 2 1/8 in (5.4 cm).

Detail of the lower portion of the above advertisement showing the address and direction details.

At the Shop

Striking a pose at the shop.

Raiford Sign Co.

What a smart bunch of fellows in Houston, Texas, and we'd expect nothing less from a firm established in 1892.

Signs by Lee

But which one's Lee?

Two men with their backs to the viewer looking at a vertical sign mounted beside a doorway. The sign is a reverse glass piece in gold leaf and paint that reads "Signs by Lee, the Imprint of Quality, Phone PR.3-5534".

Low Prices

If these guys put their prices up, they might be able to afford a better photographer.

A blurry black and white photo of two men outside a garage building that is crudely adorned with a big arrow, a clock, a neon sign that says "Signs" and another sign that says "Low Prices".

Cincinnati Locals

Eagle-eyed Jenna Homen spotted these in the Historic Photos of Cincinnati book.

John the Sign Writer

Is that the man himself in the upper left window? John's Cincinnati Sign House was located on West 5th Street, with this photo taken in the 1880s.

Archival photo that shows a tall terraced shop above which there are a host of signs advertising the "Cincinnati Sign House" and "John the Sign Writer".

Dilts Advertising Sign Service

This photo was taken on Queen City Avenue in 1915.

A streetcar with passengers passing along a flooded road. Behind this is an industrial building with painted signs on the walls advertising the "Dilts Advg. Sign Service". — "High-water streetcards had their motors mounted up in the body of the car that was elevated from the tracks"

Queen City Sign Co.

This one rang a bell, and then I recalled I'd seen it somewhere online, colourised. My notes have it on Vine, between 4th and 5th streets in the late 1880s.

Archival photo showing a street scene filled with traders and a riot of signs protruding from every building. One of these is advertising the "Queen City Sign Company" and their various sign services. — The photo presented in the book is actually slightly cropped versus the colourised version below.

Colourised copy of the photo above, with the Queen City Sign Company sign rendered in blue, yellow, and white. — Gary Godby has an alternative treatment here with the sign in red, and showing the annotations on the original photo.

On Main Street

And, to close, a sneak preview of some of the signs for sign painters that are on display in the Main Street sign shop at the American Sign Museum.

Ad-Art Display

Winsted Sign Service

Grant Signs / Olga Signs

Two wide-format hand-painted signs on a wall. The one above simple says "Grant Signs", while the quite roughly lettered one below has "Signs and Show Cards" in a central panel with "Phone 320" on the left, and just "Olga" on the right. — Do you know how the (presumably local) three-digit phone number can be used to date Olga's sign?

Stades Signs

L.D. Van Orden

Mack's Signs

PS. I Miss You

And, last but not least, is this beautiful envelope, hand-drawn by Charles N. Dunlap in 1898. He was a former employee at the Smith & Quehl shop, and the letter inside expresses discontent with his new employment in Youngstown, Ohio, and nostalgia for those happier days back in Cincinnati.

Hand-drawn envelope with a postmarked stamp. Every space is filled with a drawing of a man on a hanging platform painting a billboard. The billboard comprises a design in the form of an advertisement for "Smith & Quehl, Makers of Signs" that doubles as the address for that firm.