As so often happens, this wall sign for Dau Furniture was suddenly exposed a couple years ago, circa 2009, after an adjoining building was razed.  The west-facing sign on the side of what is now a hair salon is quite lengthy in copy and likely dates to the 1950s. 

No wonder there are so many extant wall signs for Royal Patent Flour in the Mound City—the flour was the flagship product of the Stanard-Tilton Milling Company and the Stanards were Captains of Industry in St. Louis during the 19th and 20th centuries. William K. Stanard—son of Edwin O. Stanard, former governor of Missouri—was president of the company, while his son, Edwin T. Stanard, a 1906 Princeton graduate, was, at various times, vice-president, general manager and secretary of the mammoth business concern. 

Old Pattison Whisky has seen the light of day after 111 years. In yet another example of a beautiful old sign suddenly revealed, this west-facing brick wall on Folsom Avenue in near-South St. Louis was exposed in June, 2011, when the adjoining building collapsed.

While searching for a subject that would combine a design-oriented composition with his detailed drawing /painting technique, Dana Forrester developed the brick wall series that has become central to his national reputation.  In addition to his brick wall paintings, Dana also explores other aspects of commercial advertising in his art — old signs, storefronts, and neon signs. 

Many a lubricated patron of the taverns and restaurants that make up the Soulard neighborhood has at one time or another pondered this large and friendly sign, one of the best remaining examples in St. Louis. Dr. Hoffman’s Red Drops rests on the north face of a building on Ninth Street at Allen.

Walter Sheppe of Akron, Ohio submitted this photo, exposed in 1990, saying it is his favorite wall sign of all that he has seen. It is an ad for the Euclid Ave. Carriage Company, said to date from 1895. The picture in detail shows a folk-art rendition of a Victorian-era couple in their new carriage.  The carriage ad was painted over an older ad for milk.  Walter Sheppe said that the sign was preserved by an adjacent building that had recently been demolished.

Orange Smile Syrup Company opened at 2001 S. 9th Street in the Soulard neighborhood in the late 1920s.

A recently discovered gem in remarkably good condition, Rising Sun was exposed by demolition of an adjacent building as late as 2009.  Amazingly, some of the original color is still apparent, as seen in the rosy hues of the letters in “Rising.”  The building is in North St. Louis, on N. Broadway at E. Prairie, alongside of Interstate 70. Although the wooden fence obscures the bottom half of the sign, the slogan reads “The Best Polish In The World.”

At the far south end of St. Charles’ historic main street, within a stone’s throw of the Missouri River sits a grand old building.