Union 76

This 8 foot porcelain sign is kind of a fluke. A picker / collector in Salem Oregon had this sign. I was headed to visit my sister in Oregon and knew about this picker and planned to stop and visit him and his collection. We had been up the coast through Northern California and then into Oregon. When visiting this picker I had bought some glass cylinders from him when he asked if I wanted to buy the Union 76 sign. I didn’t have the room for this but we made room. It sat at home for lots of years and then when we built the Event Center Museum we had the perfect place to hang it. So happy I bought it way back when as it is a beauty and perfect addition to the wall.

Western Auto

This sign also came from Gary Phillips who got it from an auction. This is the first company that started a franchise. They sold auto parts and sold them to others to sell. They were the supplier and years ahead of there time in the franchise idea. This also came from Indianola, Iowa.

amoco

This sign came from Indianola , Iowa from a Picker named Gary. Amoco was a Standard Oil company where they went from Standard to American to Amaco. They bought out UTOCO. All gas and oil is connected somewhere as it started with ONE and branched and sold and sold again which is why we get to have so many brands and beautiful signs displaying in our Musuem.

IMPERIAL

This sign came from Ozark , Missiouri which is about an hour from Joplin. We were driving through after buying signs in other areas and found this sign from picker named Chris Walters. He always has great signs and we have purchase many from him. We love the shape of this sign. It should have prices under the sign which we have but we like the look without so left it as is.

Chrysler Pymouth

Plymouth sign came from our friend and picker Chuck Dudley. It was a rough sign that we needed because of the colors and look. Again it is a sign we just like:)

Hand carved Native American indian

Our hand carved out of one tree Native American Indians came from an antique store out near Tremonton ,Utah. While Sparky was visiting an antique event near Ogden that has dealers from all over that come to show and tell as well as sell their treasures. This is where he met a dealer that had one of these beautiful carvings. After discussing price he actually had three that we could not pass up. Sparky bought two and his son bought the other. They sat at his home in Sundance out front for years until we recently relocated them to be on display in the Museum.

Growing up in Los Angelas

The Hancock gasoline sign came as a reminder of when Sparky was a little boy growing up in Los Angelas. Sparky used to go to the LaBrea tar pits. Hancock Oil was from LaBrea.

Shell shell shell

The shell signs have come from all over including from Canada. Sparky bought Sehll gas in California as a kid but never knew it’s a European based Company till he started collecting signs. Shell changed the World of Petroleum while people were sleeping:) They invented and shared the means of deep water drilling which makes much more of our oil available today.