The C.C. Taft Building, known for housing Liar's Club and Legends American Grill, is at 216 Court Avenue. This historic building dates back to 1922. Not many ghost signs exist on this building, but a faded Legends sign from recently is painted on the east wall under an awning. At one time, graffiti was painted on the wall where the spot is now, but has been removed.
The building in August 2009
The Warfield-Pratt-Howell Co. Sign in June 2007
This century-old building on Court Avenue displays a high-top, readable faded advertisement for the former head company in this building, Warfield Pratt & Howell Company. There is also a barely readable rectangle-shaped advertisement right above the Buzzard Billy's Cafe sign. The exact date of commencement of the building is unknown. One of the founders, J.W. Howell, lived in a residence on Grand Avenue that was later demolished. The property is now Martin Luther King Jr. Pkwy.
Well, as the title says, hello! This is my first post ever on Blogger. This blog is devoted to those signs of the past: ghost signs. But, this blog is not about what they are and their history, it's about "ghosts" in the Hartford of the West: DSM! I have noticed on Flickr that there are not a lot of pictures of ghost signs in Des Moines, so I decided to maintain a blog about them. I decided to create a blog very similar to http://pdxbuildingads.blogspot.com, except the vintage signs are here, instead. I hope to maintain an outstanding collection of DSM ghost signs in the next few weeks, posting pictures of current and removed signs from buildings I have seen. Thanks for reading!
