An iconic piece of history in Poplar Bluff is now seeing the light of day (and dark of night) once again thanks to business owner, Slug Hefner.
The 303 Package and Sporting Goods neon sign has been placed in front of Hefner Furniture and Appliance on N. Westwood Blvd. for citizens to reminiscence about memories from the original downtown 303 Package store.
Hefner said the iconic sign was even considered a dynasty at one point in time. The one-of-a-kind sign was state of the art when it was first installed on Main Street. The complex moving neon fish was unlike any of its kind during that era.
The liquor store began with Clyde Tidall in 1946 to 1948. Jay Hoover then purchased 303 Package and Sporting Goods on May 15, 1948, and was the owner when the sign was on the building in downtown.
"I always respected the Hoover family and their business operation," Hefner said.
Jay's son, Tom Hoover, said the sign was built in 1951 by Willard Davis. He would work on the sign during his spare time and took him a year to build at a cost of $1,200.
During the sign's heyday, "There were about 66 businesses in downtown," Hoover recalled.
Until Hefner resurrected it, 1995 was the last time the sign was seen operational. It did, however, hang on the side of the building until last year, when current Godwin's 303 Package and Sporting Goods owner, Ben Godwin, removed the sign. Godwin purchased the business on July 1, 2004 and then relocated from downtown to Highway 53 a couple of years ago. Godwin stored the sign in a pole barn on a trailer at his home for about two months to protect it from the weather.
Godwin said the sign was not something he wanted to move from its original location to his new store on Highway 53.
"It didn't seem right to bring it here (Highway 53 store location)," he said. "I'm glad it is fixed and back on display. It is a piece of Poplar Bluff history."
The late Bernie Lay owned an outdoor advertising company in the 1950s and '60s that hung signs all through the downtown area and also serviced neon signs. His son, Richard, while he was in high school, helped his father erect many of the signs on Main Street. He recalled the sign being the first thing that caught your eye as you headed down the street.
"They just don't make signs like that anymore. It's a part of Americana." said Lay, who retired two years ago from coaching football and lives in Little Elm, Texas.
"It's always neat to revisit the past," Hefner said.
He reminisced about riding his bicycle to 303 as a boy and "oohing" and "ahhing" at all the items in the store. "They always had a big inventory," Hefner recalled.
303 Package carried a wide variety of sporting and hunting goods, which Hefner said interested him as a Boy Scout.
"When 303 left, I thought the sign would be nice to have," he said. So, Hefner called Godwin and pitched the idea of purchasing the sign. Brian Wisdom, a mutual friend of Hefner and Godwin, then called Hefner and they both agreed the sign would look good at Hefner Furniture and Appliance, so the sale was made.
Hefner declined to say how much he paid for the 18 foot sign. Jokingly, he said he probably paid too much, but said it was worth more to him than most.
The sign did not always shine as bright as it does now. Carl Grobe of Bootheel Sign stepped in to refurbish it back to working order. Devices in the control panel were redone to make the neon move, power was restored and Jay Githens helped with the reshaping of sheet metal on the sign. Everyone involved in bringing the sign back to life was local, so the project held special meaning to each.
At one point, Hoover did check with a man from Jackson, Tenn., to get the sign in working order once again. He said he was quoted a price of $800 and passed, since the original cost of the sign was only $400 more.
"I really don't know how much I paid to have the sign refurbished and I probably don't want to know," Hefner again joked.
After about a year of refurbishing, a pole was placed for the sign, which brought a lot of questions from residents. When the sign was on site to raise in mid-May, Hefner said interested people came out to watch the piece of history be raised once again.
Hefner said he is receiving a lot of "thumbs up" and people are very gracious for the saving of the sign. "It's a part of history we are preserving," he said. "It's such a fun sign."
While Hoover has yet to see the sign in the dark, he said he really liked the sign being back up.
"I had tears in my eyes," Hoover said adding it is a historical piece of Poplar Bluff.
"Everyone appreciates the sign being back out," Hefner said. "It means something to true Poplar Bluffians."