Supersweet Feeds

Supersweet Feeds, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

We've returned to the tiny town of Arlington, Illinois, to the elegantly crumbling grain elevator by the Burlington tracks. Several ghost signs in one shot-Supersweet Feeds, the famous red-and-blue CO-OP rings (not really a ghost, I guess!), and the Arlington Grain Company's logo itself. And, it's hard to see here, but the AGC's logo was painted on a couple of different ways.

Dust, fuzziness, grit, and general attitude thanks to the faithful Spartus Full-Vue.

Parkston Co-Op

Door, originally uploaded by William 74.

One of the maxims I live by is "It's always worth it to ask". Such is the case here. This well-seasoned sign is on the door of a sixties Ford pickup truck. Actually, it's just the cab of the truck-no chassis, no engine, no glass, no fenders, no box, no nothin'. I found it in the back of a repair shop in rural Illinois, and the only reason I saw it was because they had a nice old Chevy parked at the side, and I asked if I could shoot it. The guy said told me to go ahead and look around, and walked back into his shop.

I loved this door the second I saw it. I love the fact that the signwriting was never painted over-this truck clearly led a long life with the Parkston Co-Op Association. It's also a long way from home-as best as I can tell, this is Parkston, South Dakota. This fact makes me even happier that I stumbled across it.

Co-Op

Co-Op sign-Earlville, IL, originally uploaded by William 74.

You used to see the distinctive, two circle Co-Op logo all over the Midwest when I was a kid. On signs, silos, warehouses, hats, gas stations, stores...

Anyway, this one is in front of a cooperative in rural Earlville, Illinois. It looks like it used to light up, and maybe was from a gas station. It looks properly aged, though.