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Scaffold Signs (page 4)

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Quaker Oats
Cedar Rapids, IA
Quaker Oats has been producing cereal here since 1873. I don't know how old this rooftop sign is. In 2021, after damaged from winds, the neon letters were replaced with LED versions. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

Iowa Paint [gone]
Des Moines, IA
Travelers Insurance
Des Moines, IA
Colonial Bread
Des Moines, IA
Iowa Paint has been around since 1952. In 2005, the company was bought out by PPG Industries but the sign remained. This photo is from 2006. By 2012, the sign was gone. [photo thanks Glenda Campbell]

This Travelers Insurance sign was built in 1963. It is about 50 feet wide and 40 feet tall. In 1998, Travelers Insurance moved out of this building. The sign was restored by the building's current owner in 2005. It is lit at night. For more, see this website. [map]

Colonial Bread plant closed around 2000. This sign is now owned by the city. It has been restored and I believe it is lit once in a while. "Try It!" flashes on and off. For more, see this website. [first photo thanks Glenda Campbell] [map]

More Iowa:
Hotel Burlington (Burlington)
Roosevelt Hotel (Cedar Rapids)
Iowana Hotel (Creston)
Kahl Building (Davenport)
Hotel Randolph (Des Moines)
Bridge Restaurant & Lounge (Dubuque)
Keokuk Plant (Keokuk)
Fareway (Marshalltown)
Carroll Lumber Co. (Ottumwa) [gone]
Welcome (Sioux City)

Hotel Yellowstone
Pocatello, ID
The Hotel Yellowstone was built in 1915 as the Yellowstone National Hotel. The sign on the roof had a different design then. This sign was there by the 1930s and may be older than that. The letters may have been replaced later but the design is the same. The sign was originally lit with bulbs. Around 1960, the bulbs were removed and neon was added. Each letter has two sets of tubing, enabling them to alternate between red and green. In 2018, the sign was restored and relit. For more, see this website. [map]

Turf Club
Twin Falls, ID
The Turf Club opened in 1946. The name was a reference to the horse racing track located across the street at the time. The business at that time was a drinking and gambling establishment. This sign was built around 1953 by the Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) shop in Las Vegas. It is about 45 feet wide. The "Turf Club" letters are lit with red neon. The champagne cocktail coupe glass is about 20 feet tall. It is outlined in blue and contains about 300 bulbs. About one-third of the bulbs inside and above the glass flicker at night to simulate bubbles. The clear bulbs appear golden at night. The stirrer and cherry are lit with red neon. The sign had a major restoration in 1969. To comply with the local sign ordinance, it must be diligently maintained to allow it to continue to be lit. The business has a monthly contract with Lytle Signs. The plastic panel at the bottom of the sign previously read "Fine Food & Dining." It was changed in the late 1970s when the business began offering banquets. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

Kentile
Floors [gone]
Chicago, IL
This Kentile Floors sign appeared to be identical to the one in Brooklyn, NY. Both signs were built sometime between 1949 and 1954. The Brooklyn sign was most likely the first since the company was founded there in 1898. I don't know of any other signs built like these. In 1992, Kentile declared bankruptcy from lawsuits over the asbestos contained in their tiles. Neither sign was operational for many years. The Chicago sign was removed in 2013. The owner was concerned about the sign falling apart. He kept the letter "K". The rest of the sign was scrapped. In 2014, the Brooklyn sign was also removed.

Timmerman's Supper Club & Motor Inn [gone]
East Dubuque, IL
Pepsi
Quincy, IL
The Timmerman's Supper Club & Motor Inn were going by two different names in 2010 when this photo was taken: the Timmerman's Hotel & Resort and the Timmerman's Supper Club. The Supper Club was built in 1961 and the Motor Inn in 1974. There were two of these signs, facing different directions. By 2015, both signs had been modernized with backlit plastic letters. By then, the hotel had closed and the "Motor Inn" letters were removed. For more, see this website.

This Pepsi sign is from the early 1960s when the Pepsi bottling plant below it was built. The production has moved to a new location but Pepsi continues to use this building for distribution and warehousing. The sign was refurbished in 2002. For more, see this website. [map]

More Illinois:
Millers First Insurance Company (Alton) [gone]
Hoyne Savings Bank (Chicago)
Essex Inn (Chicago)
Pepsi (Chicago) [vintage; gone]
Turk Furniture (Kankakee)
Hotel Pere Marquette (Peoria)
Pioneer Motel (Springfield)

Martinsville City of Mineral Water
Martinsville, IN
The Martinsville City of Mineral Water sign was built around 1930. It was paid for with public donations. At that time, the city was a health resort featuring mineral baths. The sign was restored in 2001. It was restored again in 2017 with LED bulbs. For more, see this website. [map]

Wrecks Inc.
Whitestown, IN
Wrecks Inc., an auto salvage business, went out of business around 2004. These photos are from 2010. The billboard sign shown on the left is gone now. The neon sign was built in 1958 and it is still there although it is no longer lit. Originally, there were older wrecked cars installed on the posts in front of the sign. These photos are from 2010. By 2015, the wrecked cars were gone. In 2018, it was announced that the property would be turned into the Maurer Commons. The sign will be restored and incorporated into the project. Nothing had happened yet as of 2022. [map]

More Indiana:
General Electric (Fort Wayne) [gone]
Perfection Bakeries (Fort Wayne)
Walker Theatre (Indianapolis)
Colgate Clock (Jeffersonville)

Hotel Jayhawk
Topeka, KS
The Hotel Jayhawk was built in 1926. The original rooftop sign did not feature a jayhawk. It was a simple text sign on rectangular shaped scaffolding. It was most likely a bulb sign. The two, identical neon signs which exist today were installed on the roof by 1935. One faces the south, the other faces east. The signs are 35 feet tall. The hotel closed in the mid-1970s. In 1982, the building was renamed the Jayhawk Tower and converted into office space. At that point, the signs' letters were changed from "Hotel" to "Tower". The signs were restored in 1999. They were repainted again in 2010. A Jayhawk is a mythical bird which is part blue jay and part sparrow hawk. The bird has been associated with Kansas since the 1850s and became the mascot for Kansas University's football team in 1890. The bird was first depicted in a KU newspaper in 1912. The Jayhawk logo has changed many times over the years. The version which appears on the Jayhawk Tower signs was used from 1923-1929. For Jayhawk statues, see these in Lawrence, KS. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

Hotel Parrish
Pratt, KS
Ellis
Ellis, KS
The Hotel Parrish was built in 1930 as the Hotel Roberts. It became the Hotel Parrish in 1957 and this sign was adapted then. The owner had another Hotel Parrish in Great Bend, KS. This hotel operated until 1974. The building is now used for apartments. For more, see this website. [map]

The Ellis sign is installed on the roof of the Ellis Railroad Museum. I don't know how long it has been there but it could be from the 1910s or 1920s. [map]

Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview
Wichita, KS
Osage Apartments
Arkansas City, KS
This Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview sign was built and installed in 2011 when the hotel was renovated. Lit with LED bulbs, it is meant to simulate the hotel's previous sign. The Hotel Broadview was built from 1921-1922. There was a rooftop scaffold, incandescent bulb sign reading "Broadview." By the 1940s, there were two scaffold signs on opposite corners of the building reading "Hotel Broadview." Those signs were still there in the 1960s. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

The Osage Apartments was built as the Osage Hotel in 1920. By the 1930s, there was a large neon projecting sign near the top of the building. However, there were no rooftop signs. I don't know if one was added later or if these two signs on opposite corners of the building were installed in much more recent years. In 1991, the hotel was converted to apartments. [map]

Beechcraft
Wichita, KS
The Beechcraft airplane manufacturing company was established in 1932 in Wichita. This sign is one of two installed on both sides of a runway bridge at the Beech Factory Airport. The airport was built for the Knoll Aircraft Company in 1928. It has been owned by Beechcraft since 1940 and these signs might have been built then. If so, these plastic faces must have been added later. For more, see this website. [map]

More Kansas:
Sunshine Biscuits (Kansas City) [gone]
H.E. Lee Flour Mills Co. (Salina)

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