Farmers' Elevator & Supply Co.

Farmers' Elevator & Supply Co., a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A couple of grain elevators in Morrison, Illinois, a town near the Iowa border and right along the Lincoln Highway.

International

International, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

This excellent set of ghost signs is tucked away in a back alley in Aurora, Illinois. This building used to be a warehouse and dealership for International trucks and implements, but I have no idea when that business moved. It has been in the process of being converted to other uses for about three or four years now. It seems they only got about as far as bricking up some windows and putting new glass in a few others.

The DeKalb

The DeKalb, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Closed for movies but open for other stuff, the DeKalb Theater still has this awesome, if inoperative, sign out front. I don't know how long it's been out of the movie business, but there's a beauty school there now.

Your Neighborhood Supper Club

Your Neighborhood Supper Club, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Plastic vacuformed sign outside the B.C. Club in tiny Arlington, Illinois. The restaurant appears to be one of two businesses in the town. At least I assume so, it may not be open-I didn't see signs to say one way or the other.

If Arlington sounds familiar, we visited their excellent-and now demolished-grain elevator last year.

Steele Jewelry

Stele Jewelry, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Vintage vacuformed sign in Mendota, Illinois. I used to ignore these plastic fantastics, in my quest for fun vintage Googie-tastic neon slabs, or fadetastic ghosts painted on walls, but the more I see them the more I like them. They've often got cool graphics and genuine character, and they're often in better shape than old neon.

I shall continue to search them out.

Swift's Premium

Swift's Premium, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

We recently visited this vintage Swift & Co. refrigerated car, parked out the back of the Fox River Trolley Museum. I've seen a couple of these in other museums, and somewhere I found a photo of a Chicago & North Western freight train pulling a solid line of them out of the city. Not a surprise since Swift had a big facility in Chicago (big enough to warrant it's own stop on the CTA's Stockyards branch).

Sunoco

Sunoco, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A very old plastic Sunoco sign, on the side of a repair shop in Paw Paw, Illinois. I have no idea if this was a Sunoco station at some time or not-it was one of those generic looking cinderblock garages, so it could've switched brands plenty of times. Heck, it may have never been a gas station at all-I didn't notice any remnants of a pump island or anything.

This looks suspiciously like one half of a plastic illuminated sign, so maybe it was hung there as decoration.

130

130, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A ghost sign in downtown Nashville. There are quite a few ghost signs around town-Nashville has a pleasantly small town feel in places. This one caught my eye because it's right next to the Shelby Avenue Bridge, which crosses the Columbia River. It's pretty obvious that it was meant to be seen by travelers on the bridge, and that the wood door was for loading freight onto the second floor.

Master Mix Feeds

Master Mix Feeds, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A classically grungy image for this week's Through the Viewfinder Tuesday. This is the abandoned grain elevator in tiny Arlington, Illinois. A very interesting structure, full of interesting textures and signage.

Choice of Seven out of Ten Saw Owners!

Choice of Seven out of Ten Saw Owners!, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

An unintentionally funny sticker in the window of an abandoned shop.

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.

Food

Food, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Maybe this is "Neonless Friday"? This arrow was tubed at one time, although I have no idea how long ago it lost it's glass. It points at the Chick-N-Dip in Hampshire, Illinois, which is an old school joint with a patio and no interior seating. It features no other old signs except this one. I think it's interesting that they've kept it for so long!