A refurbished sign is put into place Friday on the State Street Mall in downtown Auburn.
David Wilcox, 水果派AV
Workers prepare to lift a sign outside Prison City Pub & Brewery.
David Wilcox, 水果派AV
David Wilcox, 水果派AV
A refurbished "Armory" sign is put into place Friday on the State Street mall in downtown Auburn.
David Wilcox, 水果派AV
From left, Joan Crawford Ringwood, Pat Green, Charles 鈥淪onny鈥 Grezo, Fred Mills and Francis 鈥淐heech鈥 Pettigrass on State Street in the 1940s across from the John Stevens Department Store.
R&M Real Estate Group put an exclamation point on its of downtown Auburn's State Street mall area with the installation of a 20-foot sign there Friday.
The green, red and custard sign, located on the corner of State and Dill streets and above , says "The Armory, Est. 1859."
Joe Bartolotta, whose family owns and operates R&M, said the sign pays tribute to the original purpose of the building.
Before it housed Yesteryears Coffee House and the John Stevens Department Store, among other businesses, the building as an armory from 1859 to 1871. Local soldiers would train there before shipping out to fight in the Civil War, Bartolotta said.
Kassis Superior Signs refurbished the sign, which originally said "John Stevens Co." It hung in the same location since the days of the store in the 1920s and '30s, Bartolotta said, until its removal about a year ago.
A survey of local business owners led R&M to replace the text with "The Armory," he said.
The family has held historical preservation as a high priority in its development of the block, he said. Along with Prison City, those efforts have opened the door to businesses such as听, 听and听.
Prison City will host an event celebrating the lighting of the sign's red neon lettering during First Friday events in downtown Auburn April 3.
Lake Life Editor David Wilcox can be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @drwilcox.
From left, Joan Crawford Ringwood, Pat Green, Charles 鈥淪onny鈥 Grezo, Fred Mills and Francis 鈥淐heech鈥 Pettigrass on State Street in the 1940s across from the John Stevens Department Store.
