Well, well, well, I have to say my ghost busting skills are getting better everyday, despite this post being a day late. But we're going to have two Ghost Signs posts today to make up for it. Our first ghost sign is on the side of a building in Colchester, Illinois.
The sign is in great condition, even though I don't think it's been painted since the business was there. At first I thought the sigh read, "A.W. Smith and Son Clothing, but when I started doing research on the sign, I couldn't find anything. I even looked in the 1885 edition of
History of McDonough County, Illinois. I found an A.J. Smith and Son in the book but no A.W. Smith and Son, and then I finally realized that I was misreading the sign.
You see, there are two signs- one right on top of the other, and I was reading them together instead of separately. The later sign on top reads- "A.W. Smith Clothing" with "Hats" and "Shoes" written in smaller print in the middle. (It's hard to tell from these pictures, I'll try to get better ones next time I'm in town and update this). Then underneath the sign originally said "A.J. Smith and Son Clothing." The son part in the middle is easy to see and that's why I was inadvertently misreading the sign. The J is underneath the W and you can just barely make out the top of the J and the bottom curve of the J.
According to the
History of McDonough County, Illinois Albert J. Smith, Sr. was from Canada originally; he moved to Colchester in 1863 and in 1881 he established his clothing store which over time became quite a large firm. The book doesn't mention an A.W. Smith so he could have been born after the publication of the book or he is a later descendant of A.J. Smith.
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