Kirksville Hat & Shoe Works Tin Trade Sign

Circa 1920: Measuring approximately 34"L x 21"H, this stencil decorated tin trade sign advertises the Kirksville Hat & Shoe Works, a hat and shoe repair business run by two young Greek immigrants, brothers Paul and George Johnson, who found their way to St. Louis in 1909 and settled in Kirksville, Missouri, at the close of WWI. The brothers opened shop and remained in business until 1967, retiring on the the doorstep of the historic Summer of Love. By 1920, however, there were plenty of mass produced painted and embossed tin lithograph signs and painted enamel signs nationwide by the major sign companies, but this custom trade sign with its modern three digit phone number included was made in a little Midwestern shop and has great folk art appeal. The anonymous local sign maker first first stenciled the design onto a 36" x 24" sheet of tin and then pressed the tin for hanging. Obviously, the artist covered a little too much of the field with his decoration because the green lettering reaches around the sign's border, but that happy acccident gives the sign a pleaant homemade charm that the mass produced signs simply cannot imitate. This tin sign retains its original paint and has a terrific weathered surface.