IDAHO FALLS – The Museum of Idaho is giving patrons a glimpse of the “Signs of the Times.”
That’s the name of a new exhibit exploring the design, culture, and stories behind the signs that have shaped the landscape of eastern Idaho. It opened on Saturday in the Masonic Gallery and will be open through February.
The exhibit features a wide range of signs and related artifacts, including the old Bonneville Hotel sign and storefront signs from old businesses in downtown Idaho Falls.
Director of Exhibitions Rod Hansen shared some of the stories behind the signs in a conversation with EastIdahoNews.com. Among them is an old sign for American — one of the earliest cinema theaters in town. It dates back to about 1910 and sat near the parking lot of what is now Great Harvest Bread.
“It eventually became The Gaiety, which is a theater that I’d heard of. Having the signage from the original is very cool,” Hansen says. “It was lighted on both sides and jutted out from the building.”
A picture he shared with us that’s not part of the exhibit shows the sign in its original location. The people in the photo are masked, which dates it back to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.
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Another photo he shared with us shows the storefront for the old Rio Theater and Blasius Bros Cyclery along Broadway. The Rio was in operation from 1934 to 2001. The exhibit includes a marquee from the Rio and a movie poster for a 1949 western film called “Texas Manhunt.”
Charles Blasius owned Blasius Brothers Cyclery from the 1920s through the 1960s. A sign for the shop is mentioned at the bottom of a sign for an old Harley-Davidson Motorcycles repair shop.
Last year, EastIdahoNews.com published a story about a velocipede bicycle Blasius found hanging on a fence in Lemhi Valley. It originally belonged to a traveling doctor, and Blasius cleaned it up and restored it.
The exhibit also includes one of the earliest traffic lights used in downtown, as well as a disco chandelier from the historic Wandamere Dance Hall. Built in 1929 on South Yellowstone Avenue, the venue hosted a number of big acts over the years. Among them are Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Artie Shaw.
“A heavy snowfall caved in the venue’s roof in 1951, closing it down for good just as a new (but dance-less) live performance venue, the Civic Auditorium, was under construction,” a placard about the venue says.
The idea for this exhibit came about several years ago when the museum acquired the old Hotel Bonneville sign. It wasn’t long after that someone donated a sign from the old Eddy’s bread store.
Hansen and his team realized they’d acquired a collection of signs over the years and looked into opening an exhibit.
“It was about a year and a half ago when we decided, ‘Let’s see what we can do with it,’” Hansen explains.
A sign for the old Stinker Station with the words “WARNING TO TOURISTS—DO NOT LAUGH AT THE NATIVES” printed across the front went missing days before its donation to the museum. The sign still hasn’t been found, and museum staff hope it will eventually turn up. Meanwhile, a historical placard about the sign’s history hangs in its place.
RELATED | Historic Idaho sign goes missing days before donation to Museum of Idaho
The community is invited to see the exhibit from now until the end of February. Hansen encourages people to stop by.
“People are going to find some nostalgia here, some things that they’ll remember, and some things that are odd enough to stimulate a little conversation. It’s just a reminder of how Idaho Falls once was,” he says.
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