News
Willow City discovers the find of a Century
Scott Wagar
06/19/2012
This past week, as Willow City residents were placing the finishing touches on their community for its upcoming 125th anniversary celebration, the town members discovered an interesting part of their town’s own history in a unique place, which, believe it or not, was behind a wall.
On Monday, June 11, Willow City had Mikkelsen Aggregate raze a building in the downtown section of its city next to the Northern Tier Federal Credit Union building. As Mikkelsen Aggregate began dismantling the east wall of the structure that was being tore down, the west wall of the credit union building began showing a variety of different colors; and then, two very old murals which had been painted on the wall.
The two murals turned out to be an important part of U.S. history, during a time which is referred to as the outdoor advertising era, or, what is called today “Ghost Signs,” “Fading Ads” and “Brickads.” The art form was used as advertising signs, which were hand painted on outside walls (normally brick walls) of local stores from the 1890s through the 1960s.
“It was a common way to advertise in the late 19th Century,” said Lorna Medinger, architectural historian at the State Historical Society of North Dakota. “They are typically referred to as ghost signs since so many are faded today.”
During this era, ghost signs were painted throughout the United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom. The brickads can still be found today throughout these countries, and are normally found in the same manner Willow City’s fading ads were discovered, through structures that are razed and found behind their walls.
If business owners during this time period had a good size wall, which was visible to the street, store owners would hire local or professional artists to paint a full-scale advertisements on their buildings for them. The ads were eye catchers for local shoppers who couldn’t miss seeing the rather large paintings on the local store walls.
“If you had a decent size wall, you could do a sign,” Medinger said. “I assume that most of the signs were done by a local painting company, but there were artists who did more elaborate designs, such as the WPA funded murals.”
The artists who painted the murals were called “Wall Dogs,” because they were talented painters who were quick at performing their jobs. These painters also held a bohemian, gypsy type life where they traveled from one town to the next conducting their work. They also made trips through rural farm areas to paint ads on barns.
If one closely looks at the two ad paintings discovered in Willow City, one will notice something special at the bottom of one of the ads, the words “Northern Display Minneapolis,” which means the painting was conducted by a professional ad company.
The Northern Display Advertising Company in Minneapolis was founded by Michael Breslauer, a New Yorker who was born in 1855 and moved to St. Paul as young man. He started his career as a typesetter for the Minneapolis Tribune, but later started the Northern Display Advertising Company, which was a billposting company that he started in the basement of the Pence Opera House in Minneapolis.
Later, Breslauer, along with two of his rivals, L.N Scott from St. Paul, Minn., and the Gunning System in Chicago, Ill., consolidated together, kept the Northern Display Advertising name and established one of the best outdoor advertising companies in the midwest.
There is a mystery about when the two ads on the Northern Tier Federal Credit Union wall were painted. However, it is known that the two ghost signs were painted sometime around the turn of the 19th Century, and that it was covered up by 1920 when the local Ford dealership constructed its building in the lot next to the credit union and covered up the two advertising signs with their wall.
A Willow City map in the 1910 Bottineau County Atlas doesn’t show the dealership building next to the credit union’s edifice, just an empty lot.
However, the 1920 Bottineau County Atlas has a Willow City’s map that shows the Ford dealership next to the building which had the murals painted on it.
As for the age of the two ads, more than likely they are around a century in age.
Another mystery is what type of business was the store building when the ads were painted on the structure. If the ads point toward the type of business that was there during that time, more than likely it was either a general merchandising store or meat plant.
In one of the early editions of the Willow City’s newspaper, The Dakota Eagle, an ad in the paper shows the exact words that are seen on one of the ads on the building, which is “Meat Market.”
F.X.A. Perrin owned a shop in Willow City at that time, which he refers to in a Dakota Eagle ad as “F.X.A. Perrin, Harness Shop - Meat Market – Machinery.”
When looking closely at the ad, Perrin’s full name appears to be beneath the words “Meat Market,” but, the letters are so faded it is difficult make that determination.
Whether Perrin and his business had any association with the ad, or today’s credit union building, is uncertain, but there is the possibility due to the time period.
An interesting fact to Willow City’s newest ghost signs is that one of the best Wall Dogs in the nation during this art period is a man named James Rosenquist, who was born in Grand Forks, N.D. in 1933.
“James, a North Dakota native son, had his start as a sign painter in Minneapolis and eventually moved to New York City to practice his craft and got involved with the art scene there in the 50s and 60s,” said Mark Ryan, director of collections and operations at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, ND. “His experience really shaped the scale and scope of his work.”
Today, ghost signs are making a come back through parts of the nation and are starting to get a lot of attention online and in the media.
With interest in ghost signs peaking across the country, Shelly Vollmer, branch manager of the Northern Tier Federal Credit Union in Willow City, also has a real interest in these types of ads when they were discovered outside of the credit union building. She is presently seeking any information on the credit union’s ads. Any individual, who has information these ads, is asked to contact Vollmer at 366-4508.