SignWall

S.A. Doody's Shoes

Main St near the Susan B. Anthony District is where you'll find the wonderfully named S.A. Doody's Reliable Shoe Store.

The full text appears to be:
S.A. DOODY'S
RELIABLE
SHOE STORE
BOOTS, SHOES
RUBBERS

and then the rest is obscured -- one of the words may be "hiring."

SignWall in the news!

SignWall.com was featured today in The Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester's daily newspaper. Hello and welcome to D&C readers who are visiting for the first time!

Honest Scrap

This painted sign from Lyons, NY is typical of what happens when there is limited advertising space in a small village.  Note the Coca Cola logo bleeding through behind the Honest Scrap sign. The second view of the two signs makes for some great comedy : "Honest Scrap: delicious, honest, refreshing, scrap." Something tells me that wasn't the intended message.

Picture and text by Pat Domaratz

J. W. Smith Dry Goods Co.

Pat Domaratz pointed me to this Geneva, NY, landmark. A quick search turned up this lovely little site on RootsWeb, which tells us:

"In 1847, John Williams Smith and S. S. Cobb opened a dry goods store in Geneva NY under the name of Cobb & Smith. In 1849, Mr. Cobb withdrew from the business and John Smith was joined with his brother, Solomon E. Smith, in the operation of J. W. Smith & Co. This store continued in operation til the mid-1900's." The site has a nice illustration of the store, too.

Among the store's employees was Samuel D. Pierson of Pittsford, whose biography is available online. If you're willing to drive a bit to do your research, Hobart & William Smith College in Geneva has a five-page history of the store among the papers of George Maxwell Blackstock Hawley, who graduated from Hobart in 1892.

Parazin Corp. Building

The Parazin Building is just down the street from the Phillips Process building. According to an article in City Newspaper, the building is one of the oldest structures in Rochester's High Falls district. It was built in 1826. There's a photo of the building on a Flickr site that says it was built to house the Louis Selye Fire Engine & Hose Company. The same site also says the building is being renovated. It has passed through a number of owners, including our local NPR affiliate, WXXI. The building was donated to WXXI in 1985. I was unable to turn up an information on Parazin Corp. If you have any ideas, contact me via the e-mail link to the left.