Deere Grylls?

The Deere & Webber Company, according to one source, was an offshoot of John Deere that sold bicycles. Another source identifies it as simply the branch office, or distributor, based here in Minneapolis, providing a trademark or logo used by Deere & Webber in 1880. Deere & Webber may also have made buggies and carriages in the pre-tractor days. The company was apparently named for Christopher Webber (along with Deere of course), who ran Deere interests in Minneapolis from 1881 onward before getting his name in lights in 1893. Collection suits were apparently still being brought in the Deere & Webber name at least as late as 1942. Mr. Webber apparently married into the Deere family and came to have significant positions within the company along with prominence within the Minneapolis community.

This sign is actually on the back of the building, facing 2nd Ave. N. The front of the building, which I will feature with my own picture at some point in the future, is also quite interesting.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

One more block down Washington there are ghost signs covering an entire side of a building. The two on the right are for warehouse space (big shocker here in the warehouse district). I can't make out the top, but spanning the building in the second row of signage we have "Martin Parry Commercial Bodies." Sounds pretty cool, right? Like maybe back in the day you could buy cadavers for TV commercials or something? Awesome!?

Okay, so not quite that macabre. Martin Parry was once a vehicle manufacturer, but by 1915 was specialized in building truck bodies for the Ford Model T (click the link for a great set of illustrations from the company's 1926 catalog). An analyst report from 1923 says the company was formed in a combination of two predecessors in 1919. The company was bought by GM in 1930 (more great illustrations) and renamed the Chevrolet Body Division. This sign was therefore likely painted sometime between 1919 and 1930, and probably graced a distributor of Martin Parry bodies. You can find it at 607 Washington Ave. N.

Party Like It's 1884

Okay, so this one is both less of a ghost and a little too easy. The good folks at Gardner Hardware Co. tell us they have been serving Minneapolis since 1884. That probably means that their fairly freshly-painted sign is covering other of their older signs, including the one for The Maytag Company (in whose demise as an independent company I played a minor role, but let's not get into more of that antitrust stuff).

The store is at 515 Washington Ave. N.

Layers

This one's also been covered by Writing On The Wall. Or, more accurately, the main sign has been. The main sign is for Appliance Parts Inc., distributors of goods described in the name. The name is a bit too generic to have much hope of learning the history of the company, but here are a pair of interesting shots from Flickr.

There are other intriguingly vague whispers surrounding that which is visible. Below the appliance parts, I think I can read McGuire Plows. The McGuire Manufacturing Company (later McGuire-Cummings) was apparently a 19th Century maker of railway cars and railway snow removal equipment. Which means that those letters could be more than 110 years old.

These are at N. 3rd Ave. & Washington.

Meanwhile Down On The Farm

This building at 312 N. Washington Ave. appears to be mostly empty, although the first floor seemed to be the home of the Institute of Production and Recording. Clearly it was once a farm implement dealer in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. There are two signs for Van Brunt Seeder, founded in the 1850s by inventors of an automated seeding machine. The company was apparently the largest farm implement manufacturer in the world as of 1911, the same year it was consolidated into John Deere. The absence of that famous name may mean that this sign dates to even earlier times.

The other ad is for Milwaukee Harvester Company, which was part of a major consolidation in the farm machinery business in 1902 that formed International Harvester and that was eventually challenged under the federal antitrust laws. The New York Times published a notice of the company's acquisition on August 13, 1902 saying that the buyer was unknown.

Agriculture is still big business in Minnesota, but its place at the heart of our culture is fading. I've watched how the Minnesota State Fair has changed over my lifetime. The machinery part of Machinery Hill keeps shrinking. Farm commodities reports are gone from the local news (although as I don't listen to WCCO anymore, maybe I just miss them). TV isn't dominated by agricultural ads. These signs are a reminder of how central farming used to be.

Eh, Just One More Thing

This one is apparently only a ghost via its age. Falk Paper Co. seems to still be a going concern, although its website says that the company dates to 1898. I can't help but picture something like Dunder Mifflin, but it looks more like industrial and custom commercial paper and packing materials.

Here's another shot from Flickr, and here's a bit more info on the building itself. 618 N. 3rd St.

One Big Pepper

Not all interesting old signs need be made of paint on brick. I've never heard of it (perhaps I'm sheltered or something), but the Snoboy brand is apparently still in use by what is now Amerifresh Corporation, a produce marketer. The brand dates to 1925, and this particular trademark was in use from 1960 to 1985.

The sign is in front of what is now a Sharing and Caring Hands location, apparently appropriately being preserved for posterity. According to this Flickr user, this used to be the headquarters of Pacific Gamble Robinson, a predecessor of Amerifresh. 525 N. 7th St.

Sans Talking Animated Children

The weather and the fact that this is shot through a window are robbing this one of its vitality, but Writing On The Wall has a somewhat better shot. It's Lee Overall's and work clothes. Not a lot of mystery in the product, but but it looks like an old sign. 206 N. 3rd St.

Tiny Bubbles

I was dodging rain and thunderstorms when I took this one (the North Minneapolis tornado was later that day), so I wasn't able to get very close. From the skyway near Ramp C, this appears to say "Kirk's." I think it might be a soap ad for Kirk's Coco Castile, brand I've never heard of but is apparently more than 160 years old.

This is between N. 1 St. Ave. & N. 2nd Ave near Washington.

Would You Like Fries With That?

This sign takes us into the Warehouse District, and into territory that's already been covered by Writing On The Wall. The lower part of this sign is for Cliquot Club, which WOTW says is a brand of soft drink that was absorbed into Canada Dry. The brand apparently dates to the 1880s, and once included a vast bottling and distribution network before fading away in the 1960s.

I'm also interested, however, in the top part of the sign, for Landy Packing. The company or its affiliate rendering plant seems to have been the subject of a noxious fume complaint in St. Cloud in 1968 (pdf), and the subject of fairly strong criticism from the 8th Cir. in 1980 for its inconsistent efforts to delay the resolution of a labor dispute resulting in an adverse award. I've not been able to find what became of the company, but if there was a rendering operation downtown, my nose and I are not unhappy that it's gone. Someone might want to tell this Chinese maker of packaging materials about the association, though.

This one is at 417 N. 2nd Ave., and here's another shot from a different source.