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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
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.
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.
This sign for Phillips Process Co Inc is located in the High Falls District in Rochester, on the corner of Mill St. and Commercial St. Among other things, this building houses Entercom's Rochester broadcast studios. The sign is fairly easy to read:
PHILLIPS
PROCESS CO
Inc
MANUFACTURERS OF
NEV-R-KURL
TYPEWRITER RIBBONS
CLEAR PRINT
STAMP PADS
SPECIALTY INKS
EX-IT WATERLESS
HAND CLEANSER
Phillips Process Company still exists, but it's now on Magnolia St. in Rochester. At one time, though, it was at 192 Mill St., where these photos were taken. It's funny where you find documentation for things like that. In this case, I found the company's address listed on a very thrilling 1959 report titled: "PUBLICATIONS--Typewriter ribbons, carbon paper, pencils, and inks for use in typing and reviewing manuscripts" from the U.S. Department of the Interior. If you've been having trouble sleeping, read this report.
