“Whether painted, wood, bulb or neon, Chicago signs have a special place in the hearts of enthusiasts who aim to bring a new museum to the city.
“The Chicago Sign Museum officially got its name last year, said Kelsey McClellan, who founded the organization with her partner, Andrew McClellan. Its purpose is to provide education on historic Chicago signs and play an active role in their preservation as they face extinction.
“Although the Chicago Sign Museum doesn’t have a physical space yet, it has hosted sign tours around the city, put out sign maps, helped business owners restore their vintage signs and spread the word to sign owners about the city’s updated code.
“These signs give us an opportunity to tell the stories of our history and our individual experiences in the city,” McClellan said.
“McClellan was already painting signs to pay the bills in 2011 when she went to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. One day, she passed a business’s gold leaf sign and said she was ‘enamored.’ She contacted the artist who signed the work and learned the craft from him.
“Now, McClellan specializes in gold leaf, which she described as making reflective signs with thin, beaten sheets of real gold, specialized glue and paint. The McClellans run Heart and Bone Signs, a sign-painting business.
“But now, McClellan and others in the field warn that Chicago’s sign history is at risk of erasure. McClellan said she’s noticed the disappearance of more and more signs since the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fall, McClellan created a map detailing some of Chicago’s most iconic signs, such as the Erie-LaSalle Body Shop sign on the family-owned auto shop. But it has already come down after the owner sold the business to a national auto chain.
“For McClellan, keeping signs standing is the best way to keep the movement alive. Signs tell the stories of immigrants and Chicago natives alike who invested in their small businesses and used them to signal the store’s value, McClellan explained. She recently worked with Foremost Liquors in Uptown in hopes of moving the store’s historic bulb sign to its new building. But McClellan said the sign came down a few weeks ago and was sold to a private collector.
“Signs often become endangered when corporations buy up locally owned stores, McClellan said. It creates an attractive opportunity for small business owners to sell the signs to private collectors on their way out.
“Central Camera Co., a Chicago camera store open since 1899, feels the burden of maintaining its iconic neon sign that has hung over the Loop storefront since shortly after the location opened in 1929, said owner Albert Don Flesch. It’s difficult to find someone who can repair neon at an affordable price, Flesch said.
“The McClellans restored Central Camera’s storefront earlier this year for free, handpainting the windows to recreate signage destroyed in a fire a few years back. Flesch said he appreciated their work in keeping the sign’s memories and feelings alive with the restoration. His grandfather founded Central Camera, and it was his childhood dream to work at the store. Flesch said Central Camera has become his legacy” (King, Chicago Tribune, 4/10/26)