The Family Shoe Store sign arises

Back in 2020, after Mary Stout Stierwalt had closed out Family Shoe Store at the end of 2019 and sold her building on the Chariton square, she passed the firm's familiar sign on to the Lucas County Historical Society. Family Shoe had been in business for 57 years; no sign --- other than those at Piper's and the Hotel Charitone --- was more familiar.

It's a big sign and although the face was in good condition, the wooden backing had deteriorated (it had been mounted on the wood-shingled canopy over the Family Shoe storefront for many years).

Then followed two years when the museum's Coal Mine Gallery, where the sign was to be displayed, was closed to the general public --- 2020 because of COVID-19; and 2021 after a guest slammed a vehicle into the gallery's south wall exterior door, making it unusable as the emergency exit required if we were to allow visitors into the Lewis Building's lower-level galleries.

So, the Family Shoe Store sign had pride of place --- laid  out carefully on the floor of the Coal Mine Gallery, not exactly an ideal location.

During the recent holidays, our veteran curatorial associate Karoline Dittmer (now a PhD. candidate at the University of Illinois, Chicago) was home on break for a few weeks --- and took the lead in resolving this display dilemma. She enlisted historical society board member Mike Smith to help.

They conserved the deteriorated backing of the sign, reassembled it and mounted it in the appointed place on the "sign wall" of the Coal Mine Gallery. 

At some point in the sign's history, a fresh image of a high-top shoe had been mounted over the original image on the sign. In its new location, we couldn't figure out how to remount the newer part of the sign in its original location. So now we have one sign and a pair of shoes.

Also during early January, GM Builders & Son completed repairs to the south wall of the Coal Mine Gallery. This involved building a new wall inside the gallery to provide security and protection from the elements while sections of the concrete exterior wall damaged in last summer's accident were removed and both the pedestrian and overhead entrance doors to the gallery replaced.

So we should be back in business with all galleries and buildings open when spring rolls around.