I See Dead People

It's been awhile, but we are back, and we're off in Nordeast again.  I went for a bike ride, and boy was a rewarded.  This is near the old railroad tracks in the "Arts District" again, but this qualifies as a both a cool old sign and a cool old building (see the shot below for the loading dock).  And there are stiffs involved.

The Northwestern Casket Company made... wait for it... boxes in which to intern dead people.  It seems the business is still around, but no longer at this location.  Go check out the history section of their website.  It's got some cool old pictures.  They apparently occupied this location until 2006 when they moved to New Hope.  (No, non-Minnesotans, that's not a Star Wars movie, it's a suburban city).  It was incorporated in mid-1882 and received supplies right off the railroad line and turned them into the most solemn of products. Sadly, they are not accredited by the BBB.

Check out the operations in 1937 and the building, with a covering over the loading dock, in 1974 from the Historical Society.   It's at 1707 Jefferson St. NE.  There are a bunch of cool photos of a 2005 tour here.

Anyone Need A Box?

There once lived an undertaker named P.O. Melby, apparently, who had a sign painted on the side of a building. There's another word underneath the ghoulish announcement of his main trade, but I can't really read it. At least one Flickr user who also captured this sign says it's "furniture." It's a bit clearer in the photo, so I guess that's right. Perhaps there weren't enough dead people around in those days so Mr. Melby needed to sidelight in furniture. Or maybe he sold whatever kind of furniture that an undertaker of that age would need to buy (how's that for specialization). If the former, I'm not sure I'd want to shop for a sofa amongst the caskets and other tools of Mr. Melby's trade.

Anyway, I've not found much about P.O. Melby and his business. There was an embalmer with the name of Melby licensed in Illinois in 1913, but that doesn't seem to be our guy. There's a Si Melby Hall at Augsburg, but I haven't been able to connect him to either pro wrestling or preparations for eternal slumber. There also is (or was) and dorm called Agnes Melby Hall at St. Olaf, which allegedly was haunted. So, having found a ghost with a superficial tangential relationship to our sign, I guess I'll rest.

Of course, as soon as I've penned a few lines that amuse me (which I now steadfastly refuse to delete), I find a bit about our man. Peter O. Melby immigrated from Norway and ran his undertaking and cabinet making business from this location for 34 years until his death in 1921. That likely makes this sign 100 years old or more.

The spooky fun begins at 1101 S. Washington Ave., which is now Spill The Wine and was once Frank's Plumbing supply.