Piggly Wiggly
Fargo, ND Photo courtesy Allen Sandquist
While in Fargo, stop by for the Piggly Wiggly grand opening and put your name in for free groceries and prizes. At least that's how it was back in 1956.
The colorful rooftop sign and grand-opening banner capture a moment when a new supermarket was still an event. Promotions like this drew huge crowds, with shoppers lining up for giveaways, special prices, and a first look at the latest grocery store in town.
Piggly Wiggly had already changed the grocery business by introducing self-service shopping decades earlier, allowing customers to push a cart through the aisles instead of handing a shopping list to a clerk. By the 1950s, the familiar pig logo had become one of America's most recognizable grocery trademarks. 08-17
UPDATE: Piggly Wiggly eventually operated several stores throughout the Fargo-Moorhead area before disappearing from the local market during the 1980s. Although the chain no longer has a presence in North Dakota, Piggly Wiggly stores continue to operate in other parts of the country, keeping one of America's most recognizable grocery brands alive. 06-26
Bonnie's
Erick, OK Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Erick is home to this roadside sign for Bonnie's that is fading out of memory. Sitting along historic Route 66, it's one of those forgotten landmarks that's easy to pass by but hard to forget once you've seen it.
Signs like this were once a familiar part of the Mother Road, advertising locally owned cafés, shops, and businesses that depended on passing travelers. As traffic shifted to the interstate, many of these small-town establishments quietly disappeared, leaving only weathered signs behind to tell their stories.
In a town the size of Erick, even a faded sign can become part of the landscape. Sometimes it's the peeling paint, rusty metal, and years of exposure that make an old roadside sign even more interesting than when it was new. 06-06
Old Sign
Western OK Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Here's an old nameless sign found off Route 66 in western Oklahoma. Whatever business it once advertised has long since disappeared, leaving behind only the empty steel framework to catch the attention of passing travelers.
Along the Mother Road, signs were often built to outlast the businesses they promoted. When a café, motel, or gas station closed, the expensive steel frame was frequently left standing rather than torn down. Over time, many became roadside mysteries, with only a few clues hinting at what once occupied the property.
There's something intriguing about a sign like this. Without a name or logo, your imagination fills in the blanks, making it easy to picture the days when it glowed above a busy stretch of Route 66 welcoming motorists from across the country. 10-06
UPDATE: The current status of this unidentified sign is unconfirmed. Whether it still stands or has quietly disappeared over the years, photographs like this preserve another small piece of the ever-changing roadside landscape along Oklahoma's Route 66. 06-26
Old Sign
Texola, OK Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
This old faded sign still sits alongside the Mother Road in Texola. With only a handful of residents remaining, it's the kind of place where even an abandoned sign becomes part of the landscape.
During the heyday of Route 66, Texola was a busy stop near the Oklahoma-Texas state line, serving travelers with cafés, gas stations, and roadside businesses. Like so many communities along the Mother Road, much of that activity disappeared after Interstate 40 bypassed the town, leaving behind weathered buildings and fading reminders of a busier time.
Nobody seems to remember exactly what this sign once advertised, but that's part of its appeal. Stripped of its original message, it now stands as another small mystery waiting to be discovered by travelers willing to leave the interstate behind. 10-06
Lehman's Grocery & Gas
Cogar, OK Photo and info courtesy Chris Small
Lehman's Grocery & Gas features an old rusted-out building that's hard to miss. Check out the prominent Colvert Ice Cream advertisement still painted on the side. Even after decades of exposure, the faded lettering remains one of the building's most eye-catching features.
Originally built in the mid-1920s as the W.S. Kelly Store, the building later became Lehman's Grocery and Son in the late 1950s. Like many rural Oklahoma country stores, it served as a combination grocery, gas station, and gathering place for the surrounding community. Local lore even claims Pretty Boy Floyd stopped here during his travels through western Oklahoma.
Today, the weathered building stands as a reminder of a time when small country stores were scattered across the back roads of Oklahoma. The rust, peeling paint, and old advertising have become just as interesting as the business that once operated here. 10-07
UPDATE: The store has long been closed, and the building sits abandoned. The landmark APCO sign that once stood at the property was stolen, though the painted Colvert Ice Cream advertisement remained one of the site's defining features. The current condition of the building and surviving advertisements has not been verified. 06-26
Art's Television (Gone)
Oklahoma City, OK Photo and info courtesy Chris Small
Art's TV Repair is now a glass shop, but when this photo was taken the old roadside sign was still standing in downtown Oklahoma City. The lightning bolt and bold "TV" lettering are a great reminder of the days when nearly every neighborhood had its own television repair shop.
Art's Television Sales and Service opened in 1955 and spent the next 50 years repairing televisions and selling electronic equipment to Oklahoma City residents. In an era when a television was expected to last for decades, shops like this kept countless sets working instead of sending them to the landfill.
The sign itself was classic 1950s advertising. Simple, bold, and easy to read from the road, it let everyone know exactly what kind of business was waiting inside. Today it's a reminder of a trade that's become increasingly rare. 10-07
UPDATE: Although the repair shop closed in 2005, the vintage sign remained in place for many years afterward. Sometime between 2022 and 2024, it was removed from the property, bringing an end to one of Oklahoma City's surviving television repair signs. Fortunately, photographs like this preserve a memorable piece of the city's commercial roadside history. 06-26
Chrysler Plymouth
Bristow, OK Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Check out this old roadside sign for Chrysler Plymouth in Bristow. Rising high above the surrounding buildings, it's hard to miss and was designed to be seen from blocks away.
The tower was built in 1949 for Beard Motor Company, whose Art Moderne dealership sat a couple of blocks off Route 66. To make sure travelers could find the dealership, owner Red Beard worked with local oil field crews to build a towering derrick-style sign inspired by the drilling rigs that dotted the Oklahoma landscape. For decades, it has been recognized as the tallest freestanding sign along Route 66.
Although the neon went dark during the 1950s, the towering steel structure remained one of Bristow's best-known landmarks and a favorite stop for Route 66 travelers. 09-08
UPDATE: After decades of standing dark, the Chrysler Plymouth tower was carefully dismantled in 2025, relocated to a new Route 66 plaza, and fully restored. The neon was relit during a community celebration in April 2026, once again making this one of Oklahoma's most impressive roadside landmarks. 06-26
Piggly Wiggly
Bonnie's
Erick is home to this roadside sign for Bonnie's that is fading out of memory. Sitting along historic Route 66, it's one of those forgotten landmarks that's easy to pass by but hard to forget once you've seen it.
Old Sign
Old Sign
Lehman's Grocery & Gas
Today, the weathered building stands as a reminder of a time when small country stores were scattered across the back roads of Oklahoma. The rust, peeling paint, and old advertising have become just as interesting as the business that once operated here. 10-07
Art's Television (Gone)
Chrysler Plymouth
