email: roadarch@outlook.com

Scaffold Signs (page 8)

(hit "refresh" to get the most recent version of this page; click on photos for larger images)

former Wonder Bread Bakery
Columbus, OH
This Wonder Bread Bakery plant was built in 1916 and closed in 2009. The building was converted into the Wonderbread Lofts. The sign remains. There is another sign on the side of the building. For more, see this website. [map]

Columbus Dispatch
Columbus, OH
Welcome to Our City
New Philadelphia, OH
The Columbus Dispatch Building was constructed in 1925. While the newspaper is no longer printed there, the neon sign remains. For more, see this website. [map]

The Welcome to Our City rooftop bulb sign is located on the main square in town. It was originally erected in 1912. In 1936, the sign was removed due to deterioration. In 2003, it was recreated with what could be saved and reinstalled. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

More Ohio:
Firestone (Akron)
Goodyear (Akron)
Plaza Motel (Dayton) [map]
Hillcrest Hotel (Toledo)

Chickasha Hotel
Chickasha, OK
The Chickasha Hotel was built in 1902. If I had to guess, I'd say the sign is probably from the 1950s. In 2012, the building was renovated for apartments. The sign was restored then. For more, see this website. [map]

Sunshine Laundry
Oklahoma City, OK
2011: 2020:
The Sunshine Laundry is gone but this three-sided sign remains. In 2015, it was announced that the building was being redeveloped for a brewery. The neon sign was restored in 2016. [map]

Plaza Court
Oklahoma City, OK
Colcord Hotel
Oklahoma City, OK
Public Service Co. of Oklahoma
Tulsa, OK
The Plaza Court building was constructed in 1926 for retail shops. The rooftop sign was added sometime in the 1930s. It originally advertised for Atlas Life. In the 1940s, the sign was changed to advertise for the KOCY radio station. At that time, the Plaza Court letters were added below the station's call letters. In the mid-1960s, KOCY moved out of the building. Sometime after that, the station's letters were removed from the sign. In 2010, the sign was restored. The Midtown letters were added then to reflect the name of the neighborhood. For more, see this website. [map]

The Colcord Hotel was built in 1910. There are two rooftop signs: one facing north and one facing south. They are 36 feet long. The signs have been there since at least 1913. The design was based on Mrs. Colcord's signature. They were restored in 1999. In 2015, the north-facing sign was donated to the Billboard Museum. The neon on the south-facing side was replaced with LED tubing. The photo above is from 2020. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3. [map]

The Public Service Co. of Oklahoma sign was built in 1955. It was the largest electric sign in Oklahoma at the time. The sign is 336 feet long and 40 feet tall and is installed on top of the company's power station. It is lit at night with 3,249 25-watt bulbs. The incandescent bulbs were replaced with LED bulbs in 2012. The sign has never flashed. For more, see this website. [map]

Meadow Gold
Tulsa, OK

2011:

2019:
The Meadow Gold sign was built in 1934. The scaffolding is triangulated to display the two 40-foot-tall signs. The Meadow Gold brand of dairy products was purchased by the Beatrice Creamery Company in 1905. In 1946, the company's name was changed to the Beatrice Foods Co. and the sign's bottom panel must have been updated then. The sign had been dark since the 1970s. In 2004, a $15,000 grant was awarded by the National Park Service's Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program towards restoring the sign. However, just a few months later, the property was sold, and the new owner was eager to demolish the building and the sign. The Tulsa Foundation for Architecture intervened and got permission to remove the sign. The sign was put in storage in 2005 while an appropriate relocation site was found. In 2009, a pavilion building was constructed of a similar height and size as the original to serve as a platform for the sign. It is located on Route 66, about one mile west of original site. The sign was restored by CNF (Claude Neon Federal) Signs. New steel supports were built, and the porcelain panels were cleaned up. The original argon gas was replaced with neon. The original clocks at the top of the sign had been missing by the late 1970s. They were recreated at installed on the sign in 2016. For more, see this website. [map]

Yukon's Best Flour
Yukon, OK
The Yukon's Best Flour mill and grain elevators were built from 1900-1902 and were in use until the 1930s. The mill is closed but the building is still used to store grain. The two signs on top were built in the 1940s and contain about 2,500 bulbs. They were restored in 2013. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, 3, and 4. [map]

More Oklahoma:
Beard Motor Company (Bristow)
Hotel Aldridge (McAlester)
Cain's Ballroom (Tulsa)

White Satin Sugar
Portland, OR
2008: 2015:
The White Satin Sugar sign was built in 1941. The lettering on the sign originally read "White Satin". In 1957, the lettering was changed to read "White Stag". The leaping deer and the word "sportswear" was also added at that time. In 1989, the White Stag company moved to California. In 1996, the sign's lettering was changed again to read "Made in Oregon". In 2010, the lettering was changed yet again to read "Portland Oregon". The sign is lit with neon and scintillating bulbs. It is 48 feet tall and 46 feet wide. The stag's nose has been lit red, like Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, for the Christmas holiday season since 1957. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3. [map]

More Oregon:
Union Station (Portland) [map]

Holsum Bread [gone]
Harrisburg, PA
Electric City
Scranton, PA
The Holsum Bread sign was installed on the roof of the Holsum Bread factory. It was removed in 2014 and is now in a private collection. For more, see this website.

The Electric City sign is installed on the roof of the Scranton Electric Building. The sign was built in 1916 and is 60 feet tall. It is composed of 3,500 bulbs with 1,300 flashing bulbs. The sign was dark from 1972 until it was restored in 2004. The restoration took two years and cost about $180,000. The bulbs were changed from 40-watt bulbs to 11-watt white bulbs at that time. In 2014, the sign was restored again. This time, the incandescent bulbs were replaced with LED bulbs in the original colors of red, green, white, and amber. The torches' flames flicker and the circles' bulbs flash to appear to rotate in different directions. The giant light bulb at the top of the sign has sequentially lit rays. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3. [map]

Utz Potato Chips
Hanover, PA
Utz Potato Chips originated in Hanover in 1921 when the company was known as Hanover Home Brand Potato Chips. Utz built this factory in 1949 and the sign was installed after that. The sign was turned off during the gas crisis in 1974 and restored in the 1990s. In 1982, production was moved to a larger facility just a couple blocks away. However, the company still uses this building. The neon Utz sign is animated and spells out the name in separate rows and with different patterns of red, white, and blue. For more, see this website. [map]

Utz Potato Chips [gone]
Baltimore, MD
2004:
Philadelphia, PA
2012:
This Utz sign was originally installed in Baltimore, MD in 1999. The first photo above shows the sign in 2004. The sign was relocated to Philadelphia in 2010. The sign was removed around 2019. Utz began making potato chips in 1921 in Hanover, PA. Utz chips are still produced in Hanover today. Over the years, the company expanded with distribution along the East Coast from Massachusetts to North Carolina. The Utz girl has been part of their logo since the company was founded. She was possibly modeled after one of the Utz family's daughters. For more, see this website.

Philadelphia Electric Company [gone]
Philadelphia, PA
This Philadelphia Electric Company sign is composed of light bulbs. It is most likely from the 1930s. This photo is from 2010. The sign was still there in 2014 but gone by 2015.

More Pennsylvania:
Hotel Bethlehem (Bethlehem)
Zippo Manufacturing Co. (Bradford)
Benjamin Franklin House (Philadelphia)
Divine Lorraine Hotel (Philadelphia) [map]
P&LE RR (Pittsburgh)
Times-Tribune and WEJL (Scranton) [map]
Penn Wells Hotel (Wellsboro)

Rhode Island:
Cindy's Diner (North Scituate)

Scaffold Signs
page 1
Scaffold Signs
page 2
Scaffold Signs
page 3
Scaffold Signs
page 4
Scaffold Signs
page 5
Scaffold Signs
page 6
Scaffold Signs
page 7
Scaffold Signs
page 9
Scaffold Signs
page 10
Scaffold Signs
page 11
Main SCA Article
Companion Page
Main Signs Page