Advertising Signs on Barns

Throughout the Midwest and South, advertising signs were often painted on barns and other buildings in the early to mid-1900s. Building owners were paid to have the advertisements on their property, and many farmers appreciated the fresh coat of paint on the barn. Citizen’s Banking Company offered loans for real estate, and an interest rate of 4 percent on the sign pictured below.

The Herb and Myers Company “Big Store” gave Union Stamps to customers at their Sandusky store in the 1920s.

The Dilgert and Bittner (sometimes spelled Dilgart) store suggested that local residents could furnish their homes completely with the products sold at their store in Sandusky.

And restaurants advertised their menus, as well.

Sandusky’s Big Store March and Two Step

In the first decade of the twentieth century George Godfrey composed a march and two step in honor of Sandusky’s Big Store. The Big Store was located on East Market Street in downtown Sandusky. In 1882 Carl L. Engels was engaged in the dry goods business with Mr. Hasselbach. Later C.L. Engels became the sole proprietor of the business, and it was known as the C.L. Engels Company.

The C.L. Engels Company eventually became known as Sandusky’s Big Store. An advertisement in the September 18, 1903 issue of the Sandusky Register featured an advertisement for Sandusky’s Big Store. Above an image of the Big Store were the words: “The Heart of Sandusky.” In 1908 Mr. Engels disposed of his controlling interests in the store, and by 1910, the Herb & Myers Company bought out Sandusky’s Big Store.

George Godfrey was a Sandusky businessman and an accomplished musician. He was a member of the Great Western Band for many years. In the spring of 1902, Mr. Godfrey conducted a series of free concerts at the Big Store. Mr. Godfrey’s musical composition entitled Sandusky’s Big Store was published by the C.L. Engels Company in Sandusky, Ohio.

For a time Mr. Godfrey’s wife, Mary Schields Godfrey, sold hats at Sandusky’s Big Store.

Edwin B. Gerald, Sign Painter

Edwin B. Gerald was born on September 10, 1882, in Brooklyn, New York. He married Wilma Gossman in Ohio in 1906. In 1910, Edwin Gerald and his wife were residing in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At this time Edwin stated his occupation as being in the advertising business, specifically dealing in electric signs. About 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin B. Gerald moved to Sandusky, where Mr. Gerald worked as a self-employed sign painter.

The business known as Gerald Sign Service advertised that signs painted by Mr. Gerald would prove to be “business builders.” Edwin B. Gerald was the owner of Gerald Sign Service, but often the names Gerald and Abele appeared on his signs. To date, we have not discovered the significance of the name Abele in connection with Gerald Sign Service.

In 1974, George W. Bailey donated several photographs of advertising signs which had been painted by Edwin B. Gerald. Mr. Gerald may be the individual pictured below beside the sign advertising Cedar Point.

Edwin Gerald painted signs which advertised a variety of area businesses in Erie County.

In the photograph below, Mr. Gerald’s ladder and paint cans are visible.

Edwin B. Gerald died in Sandusky in October of 1957. Thanks to the generous donation of photographs of his signs, we can see a “slice of life” of local advertising in our community during the first half of the twentieth century.