Ace Sign Co., 6 generations, 137 years of artistry

Inside a 60-thousand square foot former Sears warehouse, a sixth generation sign making business.

"My great grandfather opened Ace Signs in 1940 but our family history of sign making goes back past the sign company's origin," said Scott Bringuet, co owner, Ace Signs.

Bringuet says his family has been in the sign making business since the 1880's.

"It's been almost 140 years now of sign making in the family and six generations. It's been in our family a very, very long time."

What started as hand painting for horse carriages has evolved into neon, LED, automation and hydraulic installation.

"Franklin Horn was my great grandfather. He did a lot of billboards across the Midwest. Then the depression hit and he knew he had to change course. He started Ace sign business in his garage in Springfield. Now we've evolved technologically and then the advent of neon came along. The heights with installation. The introduction of hydraulics and trucks. We had one of the first hydraulic crane trucks. That's one of the things we jumped on early along with hand bending neon."

From business cards, to room signs, to huge scale designs and marquees, Bringuet says they mix old school and modern techniques for all of their work.

"We're starting to overlap those old techniques with new technology. As we have grown, we look back at history and keep those old techniques alive while using new technology. We still bend neon, we still hand paint but the advent of digital print processing has been huge. We have the most advanced technology in printing now, as well as automation and backgrounds and letter bending. Combining that same automation with hand bent neon is something you'll see today too." he said.

You've probably seen some of Ace Sign's work, big and small.

"We do printing, we do labeling, even restroom signs up to an entire campus or even hospital signs. There is a huge scale difference of what we do."

A room off the lobby features vintage signs and a growing collection of manufactured & restored work collected over the decades.

"My grandparents always used to say that their hoarding turned into a museum," he laughed.

"Some of the things we didn't get rid of are now appreciated. The museum was in no way planned. It was very organic. We started to have some old signs on the wall as decoration. We also cleaned out our yard. We had a lot of stuff we didn't want to get rid of so we decided to display them. When we started doing that, people wanted to come in and see them." he recalled.

A room off the lobby showcases many of the collection's oldest artifacts, including a 1930s Chevy taxicab whose sign lettering was hand-painted by Bringuet's great-grandfather, the original Ace Sign truck, and a stop sign from the early days of auto travel.

"The Henry Nelch & Sons sign is one that comes to mind. It was right there along Route 66, a business that was around for 100 years in Springfield. My grandfather installed and made that sign originally. There are so many connections. If you give a museum tour, everyone has a connection and they immediately recognize that it was once along Route 66. The route 66 connection originates in our museum because a lot of the signs in the museum were originally on the route which was something when we started collection wasn't really on our mind." he said.

"Being a sign maker on Route 66 has turned into something we never really expected. About 10 years ago, as the collection got a little larger, and people started coming through, when we became a Route 66 established site, everything changed. Now we had bus tours coming through, " he laughed. "We kind of figured out how to become a museum. We have a unique place where we are a working factory but also a museum."

Bringuet says now they are receiving work to refurbish and recreate some of the old neon and the old marquis of the past.

"The new, old work we're doing now where the appreciation of refurbishing or recreating or bringing to life something that was once there that has been removed. Not only here locally, but in Granite City, the new neon park, the neon park at the Illinois State Fair. We do a lot of marquis theaters as well."

In the main room of Ace Signs, you can see an old "Sonrise Donuts" sign from 1949, a1953 neon Pepsi bottle cap, an Illinois Watch Company sign from the 1920s and the "Simon the Sputnik" sign that sat atop the roof of the Bel-Aire Manor Motel before it was bulldozed in 2015.

Ace Signs employs about 80 people.

"The industry, in what we do, is about 7 trades under one room. The painting trade, electricians, sheet metal, welders, graphic designers, all these difference sectors under one room. It's pretty unique. "

Many on staff is family.

"The family has always had that in our blood and that is the root of what we do. My great grandfather taught hand lettering in his high school class, my brother is a very talented graphic artist, my dad is a hand painter, all the way down the line. Everyone has that appreciation for the arts. The way it ties to commercial sign making is strong."

One of Ace Sign's bigger projects was for the Super Bowl.

"We built the roman numerals for Super Bowl 48. That year, they closed down Times Square the week leading up to the Superbowl and they rose out of a stage and the The Rockettes danced in front of them and the numbers were built right here in Springfield," he smiled. "We did a lot of Family Video's signs, We Work, we were the main sign company that made their letters, " he recalled. "Last week, we installed the world's largest Cozy Dog," he laughed. "I love that one."

Bringuet says Ace has made thousands of signs over the years but, signs, he says are a lot more than words.

"Some of the signs have stories, they have memories. The visual, emotional connection with a sign, the color, the motion, they bring memories and emotions. Thousands of country songs have neon in the lyrics. It's an emotional connection. "

For more information or to visit Ace Signs click here.