"In 1940, Franklin G. Horn and his wife Alvina started Ace with a pick-up truck and modest store front. Hand lettering glass doors, vehicles, and oil cloth signs was a way of life, and as technology advanced, so did Ace Sign Co."
Eighty plus years later, the family owned company now resides in a 50,000-square-foot facility. "The complex features paint spray booths and mixing stations, welding equipment, stations to make various forms of lighting, sheet metal fabrication, printers from small to room-size, laminating equipment and a fleet of 15 installation and service trucks with more than 150 feet of reach."
But the most interesting attraction within this complex is the museum.
"The Ace Sign Co. Sign Museum features a collection of nearly 90 (and growing) historic signs from Springfield and Route 66, everything from hand-painted wood to brightly lit neon. The featured signs include iconic Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola signs; the “Sputnik” from the Belaire Motel; a Barker-Goldman-Lubin building materials sign; a yellow stop sign from the 1930s-1940s with “cat-eye” reflectors; City of Springfield tourist welcome signs; a Paul Powell, Illinois Secretary of State Drivers License Examining Station sign; the Steak N Shake carhop from the restaurant’s original Eighth and South Grand location; a Goodyear Tire gold winged foot; a Sherwin-Williams Paints “Cover the Earth” sign; the original sign from The Barrel Head and several Reisch Beer signs."
The museum is a real treat with its array of classic vintage signs. Most of the signs located in the museum were created by Ace Sign Company and at one time hung at the specific storefronts in the Springfield area.
(source)
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